LG Display Q3 profit rises, buoyed by higher TV panel prices

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd on Wednesday reported a more than three-fold jump in third quarter operating profit from a year earlier, as pandemic-driven demand for television sets boosted prices for large-screen flat-screen panels.

The Apple Inc supplier posted an operating profit of 529 billion won ($449.36 million) for the July-September period, versus 164 billion won a year earlier, but it missed an average analyst forecast of 600 billion won compiled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate.

Revenue rose 7.2% on year to 7.2 trillion won.

Prices of LG Display's mainstay 55-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for TV sets increased about 57% in the third quarter year-on-year, according to market data from TrendForce's WitsView.

But the pace of growth has started easing and may weaken further in the current quarter due to rising supplies and softer demand as more people get vaccinated and spend less time in front of screens, analysts said.

"The panel shipments in the fourth quarter are expected to increase by mid-10% compared to the third quarter, with the delayed shipments affected by the industry's component shortage .... while the prices of LCD TV panels are expected to remain on a downward trend," LG Display said in a statement.

Shares of LG Display ended down 0.3%, versus the benchmark KOSPI's 0.8% fall.

($1 = 1,177.2300 won)

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar & Shri Navaratnam)

By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee