LG Display Co., the world’s second-largest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, said Friday that it logged a smaller net loss in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

Net loss amounted to 6.25 billion won ($5.57 million) in the October-December period, smaller than a 268.4 billion won loss a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The fourth-quarter figure also narrowed from a record net loss of 688 billion won in the third quarter, according to LG Display, which vies with top player Samsung Electronics in the global LCD markets.

The results were better than market consensus of 64.4 billion won in net loss surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.

Sales inched up 2 percent on-year to 6.61 trillion won in the fourth quarter. Operating loss reached 144.8 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with a loss of 387 billion won a year earlier. In the third quarter of last year, its operating loss hit a record 492 billion won.

Shares of LG Display were trading at 27,450 won on the Seoul bourse as of 9:45 a.m., down 1.96 percent.

The narrowed loss in the fourth quarter of last year is attributable to increased sales in China and the North American region. Also, sales of premium products spiked helping narrow the fourth-quarter loss, LG Display said.

“Despite continued market uncertainty, overall shipments and the market share increased,” LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom said in a statement.

LG Display said panel prices are expected to remain steady, but it is unclear whether solid demand from major clients will continue due to an economic slowdown.

For all of 2011, the company logged a net loss of 787.9 billion won, a turnaround from a net profit of 1.16 trillion won the previous year. Its yearly revenues fell 4.8 percent on-year to 24.3 trillion won and operating loss amounted to 924.4 billion won, shifting from an operating income of 1.31 trillion won.

LG Display has been struggling with a fall in LCD panel prices as demand for TVs was weak amid economic uncertainties like the eurozone debt crisis, dealing a blow to revival of the TV industry. 

(Yonhap News)