Financial - Page 30

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Last month it was reported that JOLED raised around $400 million from four new investors - auto parts maker Denso ($270 million), major trading house Toyota Tsusho ($90 million) and Sumitomo Chemical and Screen Holdings.

JOLED now confirmed this funding round. The total sum raised was actually a bit higher than reported - JPY47 billion, or about $424 million. It also said that these new investors are not just financial ones - JOLED will cooperate with DENSO to develop automotive OLED displays, while Toyota Tsusho will support this business using its automotive sales channels. Sumitomo Chemical will also enhance its already existing collaboration with JOLED to further develop OLED Printing materials.

Visionox announced a complex restructuring move, that seems to indicate that the company (which recently reversed-merged with Black Cattle Foods) aims to focus on its AMOLED business and sell its PMOLED business.

The new restructuring, or the PMOLED business sale, involves several China-based companies - including local municipalities, financial investors and even a travel company.

Universal Display reported its financial results for Q2 2018 - with revenues of $56.1 million and a net profit of $10.8 million (without the impact of UDC's new accounting system, the revenues would have been $73.6 million and the net income $25.1 million).

UDC says that the first quarter was the bottom for material shipments for 2018, in Q2 materials sales improved and the company believes that the second half of 2018 will see more growth as it anticipates new OLED smartphones from leading brands - including Apple, Google, Samsung and more. UDC estimates that for 2019, the install base of OLED capacity by meters will increase by around 50% compared to 2017.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q2 2018 - revenues increased 34% over Q2 2017 to reach $7.1 million, and net loss was $1 million (excluding one-time charges). At the end of the quarter, the company had $8.7 million in cash and equivalents. eMagin's backlog at the end of June was $10.3 million (an increase of $0.5 million from the end of 2017).

eMagin says it sold OLED microdisplays to 75 customers (including 3 new ones) during the quarter - for a wide range of applications including night vision, thermal weapon sights and see-through HMD systems for mounted and dismounted missions. The company improved its production yields (with some support from the US government for OLED production and yield improvement project) and its product quality.

MagnaChip announced its Q2 2018 financial results - with revenues of $199.7 million, exceeding its guidance and an almost 20% increase from Q2 2017. The company reported record OLED display driver revenues of $62.2 million - up 81.3% from Q1 2018 and up 300% from Q2 2017.

MagnaChip now expects that OLED revenues in 2018 will exceed the $161 million it recorded in 2016.

Samsung Electronics reported its results for Q2 2018 - revenues reached $52 billion and operating profit grew to $13.3 billion - the lowest growth since Q1 2017 as the company's smartphone sales is under pressure from Chinese phone makers. SDC reports an improved utilization rates at its rigid OLED fabs, but there was a slow demand for flexible OLEDs.

Looking into the second half of the year, Samsung expects increased shipments of flexible OLEDs, while rigid OLEDs will face stronger competition from LCDs. Samsung reitrates its plans to start producing foldable OLEDs by the end of 2018.

Photonics-based solutions provider Coherent reported its financial results for Q2 2018. Revenues were $482.3 million and a net income of $67 million. Coherent says that demand for OLED displays remains robust, but market growth remains hindered by pricing and availability.

Coherent sees this as a short-term dynamic, and once OLED producers will be able to compete with Samsung, this will change. Coherent says that 2019 will be another slow year, but investments will return in 2020. Coherent estimates that fiscal 2019 (which ends on September 2019) will likely be down 15% to 20% before recovery starts in fiscal 2020.

Tianma started producing rigid and flexible OLEDS in April 2017 at the company's 6-Gen fab in Wuhan, and on June 27th the company announced that it plans to construct the 2nd phase of the Wuhan AMOLED fab.

Tianma's Wuhan expansion project will cost around 14.5 billion Yuan ($2.12 billion USD) and will take about 25 months - so production at the 2nd phase is scheduled for September 2020. When the 2nd phase is complete' Tianma's flexible AMOLED capacity will be 37,500 monthly 6-Gen substrates.

Starting in 2016 or so, the world's leader in OLED vacuum evaporation equipment Canon Tokki, say a surge in OLED orders - which prompted the company to double its production capacity in 2016. But in 2018 the OLED market experienced a strong slump. OLED production started to recover in June 2018, but a recovery in the OLED equipment sector is still not here.

Canon today posted its Q2 earnings, and while profits increased, the company cut its full FY2018 outlook and said that demand for its OLED production equipment is lower than previously expected.