One of the last nearly independent Japanese display manufacturers, Japan Display Inc. (JDI), reported its performance for the fourth quarter of the 2018 fiscal year (from January to March 2019). Nearly independent means that almost 50% of Japan Display's shares are held by foreign companies, specifically a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium, Suwa. Earlier this week, it was reported that JDI's new partners the promised assistance amounting to approximately $730 million. The reason is that investors want to see steps from Japan Display aimed at cost optimization.
At the quarterly conference, JDI's management announced that among the cost optimization measures, a 20% reduction in the company's workforce, or about 1,000 people, is planned. All of them voluntarily decided to leave the company or retire early. Another cost-saving measure was the write-off of assets from two JDI plants: Hakusan Plant and Mobara Plant. Initially, the write-off added a loss of ¥75.2 billion ($686 million) to the company, but in the new financial year, it will bring savings of ¥11 billion ($100 million).
As for for the reporting period, from January to March, JDI generated ¥171.3 billion ($1.56 billion). This is 13% higher than in the same quarter last year, but 32% lower than in the previous quarter. The sequential quarterly decrease in revenue for the mobile device display manufacturer is explained by seasonal factors and a decline in smartphone demand. Significant operational losses for the company during the reporting period were due to increased expenses related to preparing for mass production of OLED screens. There is no net profit reported by JDI for both the reporting quarter and previous quarters. However, over the year, Japan Display's quarterly net losses decreased from ¥146.6 billion ($1.33 billion) to ¥98.6 billion ($899 million).
In the smartphone (mobile) product category, quarterly revenue has consecutively decreased by 39% to 127.5 billion yen. The cash flow primarily declined from the U.S. and more significantly from China. For the financial year 2018, revenue in the segment fell by 17% to 466.9 billion yen ($4.23 billion). In the automotive product category, revenue grew only by 4% to 112.3 billion yen ($1.02 billion) over the year, although sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter amounted to 8%. The company separately highlighted an increase in shipments of screens for laptops, VR headsets, and wearable electronics. Yet, this will not prevent the company from incurring new losses in the first half of the 2019 financial year, although revenue should begin to grow in the second half.
Source: 3dnews.ru
