Seoul Semiconductor announced its financial results of the third quarter of 2019 with revenues of KRW 283.4 billion (US$ 244.3 million), an operating profit of KRW 12 billion (US$ 10.34 million), and EBITDA of KRW 32.6 billion (US$ 28.10 million). The company said that it has achieved its guided range of KRW 280 billion to KRW 300 billion of revenues for the quarter.
Despite the weak general lighting market, Seoul Semiconductor reported growing sales of WICOP products as the demand of larger and slimmer screen in the TV market increase. The sales of automotive LEDs also improve while the overall automotive industry continued to contract. Seoul said that wider adoption of the WICOP and nPola technology for new head-lamp applications drove the growth. For past several quarters, the company has actively promoted its package less WICOP for automotive headlamp applications and have gained further traction resulting in global automakers adapting the technology for cars scheduled to be mass produced in next year and in 2021.
The upswing business in TV and automotive helps offset overall sales decline for the company. However, the sales of general lighting declined year-on-year due to continued weakness in pricing induced by industry’s high inventory levels carried over from the previous quarters.
For 4Q19, Seoul is expected to deliver similar quarter-on-quarter sales, providing sales guidance of KRW 270 to 290 billion (US$ 233 to 250 million) for the upcoming fourth-quarter with an on-quarter drop of two to five percent.