LG Display Co of South Korea and Innolux Corp (群創) of Taiwan won a combined reduction of 17 million euros (US$23.2 million) in EU antitrust fines related to LCD panel price fixing.
The EU General Court cut Innolux’s fine to 288 million euros from 300 million euros and LG Display won a reduction to 210 million euros from 215 million euros in rulings reached in Luxembourg yesterday.
The European Commission fined five Asian companies in December 2010 for operating the illegal cartel between October 2001 and February 2006.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co was not fined because it informed on the cartel and provided “valuable information,” the commission said at the time.
Taiwan’s Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) merged with Innolux Display Corp (群創光電) in 2010 and the combined company received the biggest fine in the cartel.
The court, whose decisions can be appealed, said Innolux “had made errors” by providing the EU antitrust regulator with data that “included sales relating to products other than the LCD panels subject to the cartel.”
LG Display’s reduction was based on a procedural error by the commission in calculating the fine. The company’s shares ended 5.3 percent lower at 24,100 won in Seoul trading.
Bucking the upward trend of Taiwan’s stock market, where the TAIEX rose 0.45 percent, Innolux shares fell 0.92 percent to NT$10.8 yesterday.
Taiwan’s largest flat-panel display maker reported earnings per share of NT$0.57 for the whole of last year, compared with a net loss per share of NT$4 in 2012.
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