14 DAY TRIAL // Even in spite of all the issues that are supposedly affecting the demand in the European market, suppliers of hardware appear to have actually done well for themselves during the past three months. After a stronger than expected first quarter, Q2 turned out to be just as favorable, or at least favorable enough for some companies that they scored higher revenues. LG Display is one of the more fortunate, with a growth of about 10 percent, revenue-wise, during the April-June period.
Consolidated revenues were reported to be of 6.45 trillion won. This sum is the equivalent of US$5.36 billion and is, in fact, higher not just sequentially, but also on a yearly basis. Specifically, this figure is 10% bigger than that of Q1 2010 and, more impressively, 35% better than the one attained during the same period of last year. This is understandable, considering that 2009 was a rather weak year, because of the recession.
LG Display shipped a total display area of 6.45 million square meters, which is 5% more than what it did in Q1. The average selling price of a square meter was US$863, 3% more sequentially. Inventory days remained around two weeks and the average utilization rate was of almost 100%. As for what this means on a revenue basis, TFT-LCD panels for notebooks PCs, monitors, TVs and mobile applications accounted for, respectively, 53%, 23%, 19% and 5%. All in all, the 3.21 trillion won of cash and equivalents, along with the 107% liability to equity ratio (as of June 30) hints at a stable financial structure.
Over the course of the ongoing quarter, LG expects the ASP (average selling price) to gradually decline. On the other hand, total display area shipments should grow by a low to mid teens percentage. The ASP will only rebound in September.