LG.Philips Q3 Sales Increase 11.5% From LCDs
By Jeff Malester -- TWICE, 10/25/2004
Seoul, South Korea — Higher sales of LCD televisions boosted third-quarter sales at LG.Philips LCD by 11.5 percent, hitting $1.65 billion, up from a year-ago $1.48 billion.
The company, a 50-50 venture between South Korea's LG Electronics and The Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, manufactures a wide range of LCD panels primarily for use in notebook computers, desktop monitors and televisions.
Operating income for the third quarter dropped 29.9 percent to $225.7 million from $321.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Net income for the period, ended Sept. 30, slid 15.2 percent to $256.6 million from $302.5 million in the same three months in 2003.
The company said it experienced greater-than-expected pricing declines during the third quarter, but believes these declines should lead to increased acceptance and sales in the global TV market.
TFT -LCD televisions accounted for 13.5 percent of LG.Philips third-quarter LCD panel revenue, with LCD panels for desktop monitors accounting for 54.5 percent of revenue and notebook computers 26.5 percent.
LG.Philips, which expects prices to further stabilize in the fourth quarter, said prices in the first half of 2005 are expected to remain weak for both PC computers and televisions, with improvement in the second half of 2005, due mainly to growing demand for LCD televisions.
For the nine months, sales jumped to $5.6 billion from $3.5 billion in the same time frame in 2003. Operating income more than doubled to $1.5 billion from a year-earlier $460.2 million, while net income soared to $1.4 billion from $419.2 million in the same nine-month period a year ago.
LG.Philips said third-quarter capital expenditures increased from virtually nothing the previous year to $1.27 billion.
