Apple supplier LG Display posts widened loss amid weak TV demand

SEOUL (Reuters) – Apple Inc supplier LG Display Co Ltd reported its sixth consecutive quarterly operating loss on Thursday, as people shied away from buying TV sets during the pandemic, leaving panel prices weak.

The South Korean panel maker said its loss for April-June widened to 517 billion won ($431.96 million) from a loss of 369 billion won in the same period a year earlier.

That compared with analysts’ forecast loss of 449 billion won, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.

Revenue fell 1% to 5.3 trillion won, the company said in a regulatory filing.

“Considering the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, it is true that the macroeconomic environment is still not favourable. However, we observe that the worst is over,” said Dong-hee Suh, chief financial officer and senior vice president.

Consumers tend to buy big-ticket items at brick-and-mortar stores instead of online, and sales of expensive television sets were hurt as the pandemic kept shoppers away, analysts said.

Prices for LG Display’s 55-inch liquid crystal display panels for TVs, the company’s main product, slumped nearly a fifth in the quarter versus a year earlier, showed data from WitsView, part of market researcher TrendForce.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Christopher Cushing)