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No Profits for Taiwanese Panel Makers in Q119, Possibly All Year
March 25, 2019

 
Major Taiwan-based LCD panel makers are unlikely to make profits until the second quarter of 2019 at the earliest as continued price declines in large-size panels will offset a rebound in prices of small- and medium-size panels in the first quarter. However, with Gen 10.5 capacity growing in China, there is little reason to believe an upsurge in demand will offset the increased in supply. Innolux posted a net loss of NT$700 million (US$22.73 million) in the fourth quarter of 2018 as gains generated from non-display units were eroded by a net loss of NT$1.4 billion of its core display business. As reported the first two months in 2019 were down Y/Y. AU Optronics (AUO) posted a net profit of NT$280 million for all of 2018, but it incurred a net loss of NT$1.26 billion of its core display business.
 

• In Q119, Innolux's large-size panel shipments are expected to sink 14-16% from a quarter earlier with their ASPs remaining flat, while shipments of small- to medium-size models will drop 17-19% with their ASPs plunging 14-16%.
• AUO expects its shipments of large-size panels to drop 7-9% sequentially in the first quarter with their ASPs to fall 4-6% correspondingly; and shipments of small- to medium-size panels will tumble by 20% but their ASPs will increase slightly thanks to an optimization of its product mix.
• HannStar Display also reported a net loss of NT$1.208 billion or NT$0.37 per share for the fourth quarter of 2018. But for all of 2018, it posted net profits of NT$1.021 billion or NT$0.32 per share. The company's EPS came to NT$2.10 in 2017. HannStar saw its sales bounce 58.5% on month to NT$1.118 billion in January before suffering a setback of 25% to NT$881 million in February. Overall, HannStar is expected to perform rather steady in 2019, the sources estimated.
• Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) posted a net loss of NT$7.557 billion or NT$0.93 per share in the first three quarters of 2018, and losses for all of 2018 are expected to widen by year-end on decreased revenues caused by temporary suspension of its operations due to financial difficulties. CPT is expected to continue to operate in the red in the first quarter of 2019 as its revenues continue to contract, indicated the sources. The company saw its revenues drop 81.5% on month to NT$174 million in January and drop another 40.9% sequentially to NT$103 million in February. 
  

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From DigiTimes