LG Display is concentrating on investments into OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display production. 

The company had a regular board of directors’ meeting on July 26 in which it gave a go-ahead to investing 15 trillion won by 2020 - 5 trillion won to produece OLED (10.5 generation) display panels for large TVs and 10 trillion won to manufacture small- and medium-sized plastic OLED display panels for mobile use. 

LG Display’s plant in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, will mass produce P-OLED display panels and TV OLED display panels from 2019 and 2021, respectively. 

Kim Byeung-gi, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities said, “As Chinese companies are scrambling to invest on large-sized OLED display panels, making competition get fiercer, LG Display’s investing super-large OLED display panels in a preemptive fashion is evaluated to be effective in a long-term perspective.” 

Investing in small- and medium-sized plastic OLED display panels for mobiles sets the company up to capitalize on rising demand for P-OLEDs for i-Phones, as well as gadgets for automobiles.

LG Display Vice Chairman Han Sang-bum said that LG Display, recognizing OLEDs as the future of the company, decided to invest in both TVs and OLED display panels. Provisional figures on LG’s business performance for the second quarter showed that the company chalked up 6.62 trillion won in sales and 804.3 billion won in operating profit.

Despite foreign exchange fluctuations, LG Display achieved a milestone of posting an operating profit for the 21st consecutive quarter thanks to diversified portfolio. 

Due to a decline in sales, LG Display suffered a 22 percent plunge in operating profit compared to the previous quarter, but the operating profit represents a 1,712 percent surge over the same period of last year thanks to an expansion in the portion of differentiation products, including super-large UHD TVs and high-definition IT products and a continued growth in new business arenas, including auto and commercial sectors. 

The company logged 736.7 billion won in net profit, up 8 percent over 879.5 billion won in the previous quarter while posting 1.593 trillion won in EBITDA and standing at 23.9 percent in the EBITDA earning rate.

Looking at 2nd quarter sales by products, the TV panel segment took a 46 percent share, followed by a 22 percent portion by the mobile panel sector, and a 17 percent share by the monitor panel segment, and a 15 percent share by the notebook and tablet panel sector. 

LG Display showed a sound financing structure by posting 82 percent in the debt rate, 147 percent in the current rate.