LG Display‘s fourth quarter of 2017 came with a revenue increase of two percent, which moved its revenue up from KRW 6,973 billion in the previous quarter of 2017 to KRW 7,126 billion. The revenue increase is a sign that LG is doing something right and its decisions are moving it in the right direction when it comes to profit, which is especially evident when you consider the amount of revenue that LG Display made in the fourth quarter of 2016. At that time it’s revenues were at KRW 7,936 billion. Comparing both fourth quarters for the electronics company, LG’s revenue did decline by about ten percent, and kept declining from quarter to quarter until the fourth quarter of 2017, which could signify that LG has finally found some footing and will continue to see revenue increases in the year ahead.
A big contributor to LG Display’s revenue uptick this past quarter were its increase in annual OLED TV panel shipments which according to the company were recorded at a total of 1.7 million units. This past year, LG Display ramped up its efforts in producing more OLED TV panels, and specifically ramped up its production of large-size OLED TV panels to meet the demand from more customers who were looking for larger panels to use for their own products.
When it comes to the revenue split for panels alone, LG Display saw about 40 percent of the panel revenue from TVs. Smartphone panels were the next largest contributor for the panel revenue and accounted for about 28 percent thanks to devices like its own LG smartphones. Rounding things out in this particular category were panel revenue from tablets and notebooks, which were at 18 percent, as well as desktop monitors, which accounted for 14 percent of the revenue. While LG Display did see an increase in revenue from the third quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2017, it also saw a rather large decrease in operating profit in the fourth quarter, totaling about 92 percent less than its operating profit from the third quarter of last year. These numbers amounted to KRW 45 billion and KRW 586 billion respectively. For its year on year changes in operating profit, LG Display again saw a decrease but this time at 95 percent, moving down from KRW 904 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016. Overall though, LG Display saw an increase in revenues which is a good thing for the company.