Seoul, Jan 16: South Korean flat screen maker LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. on Tuesday reported

Seoul, Jan 16: South Korean flat screen maker LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. on Tuesday reported a third straight quarterly loss as weak panel prices and lingering cost problems outweighed the benefits of seasonally-strong demand.

A full recovery appears remote as LG.Philips is set to see losses widen again in the seasonally-slower first quarter of 2007, with the company forecasting selling prices of LCD panels will fall by a low-teens percentage in the first quarter from the fourth quarter last year.

The world's No.2 maker of large liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, posted a 174 billion won ($185.9 million) net loss in the quarter ended in December. The result was in line with a 180.5 billion won shortfall forecast by Reuters Estimates.

The fourth-quarter loss marks a sharp contrast with a 328 billion won net profit a year earlier, although it improved from the previous quarter's 321 billion won shortfall.

Sales on a consolidated basis came at 3.07 trillion won, against 2.96 trillion a year earlier and in line with a 3.1 trillion forecast.

LG.Philips, which competes with domestic rival Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp., has struggled with heavy costs and a slow ramp-up of its TV panel line introduced at the beginning of 2006.

While seasonal demand growth for flat televisions and more stable pricing has helped the company trim losses compared with the previous quarter, analysts expect LCD panel prices to fall another 15-20 percent in the first half.

Even under a positive scenario, LG.Philips is likely to remain in the red in the first half of this year. More gruesome scenarios have a turnaround taking place as late as in the fourth quarter, which should make 2007 another year of net loss after a 769 billion won deficit in 2006.

Before the earnings announcement, shares in LG.Philips, valued at about $11 billion, rose 1.04 percent to 29,200 won on Tuesday against the wider market's 0.09 percent fall.

The stock fell 11 percent in the fourth quarter, lagging KOSPI's 4.6 percent gain.

($1=936.1 Won) REUTERS