Corning has reported fourth-quarter 2011 revenues of US$1.9 billion, down 9% on quarter but up 7% on year. Net incomes were US$491 million, down 39% from third-quarter 2011.
The sales in 2011 reached NT$7.9 billion, a 19% increase compared to 2010. Net incomes in 2011 were US$2.8 billion, down 21% on year.
"Four of our business segments - Telecommunications, Environmental Technologies, Life Sciences, and Specialty Materials - had excellent performance in 2011. The aggregate sales and net income of these segments grew 31% and 136% respectively. Sales of Corning Gorilla Glass almost tripled. Our innovation investments paid off with the introduction of Corning Lotus Glass for OLED displays and a new, improved cover glass, Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Our outstanding performance came despite the less-than-robust growth in economies around the world," said Wendell P Weeks, chairman, CEO and president.
Weeks pointed out that 2011 was not without its challenges. "In the fourth quarter, we experienced significant LCD glass price declines due to a confluence of factors in the display market. And our equity venture, Dow Corning Corporation, experienced major upheaval in the solar panel industry with lower demand and pricing of polysilicon materials. These price declines will reset the profitability of both Display Technologies and Dow Corning to lower levels."
Fourth-Quarter Segments Results
Sales in the Display Technologies segment were US$780 million, a decline of 4% sequentially, but a 4% increase compared to a year ago. Glass price declines at both the wholly owned business and SCP were significant.
Telecommunications segment sales were US$490 million, a decline of 13% sequentially and in line with the company's expectations. On a year-over-year basis, sales increased 11%.
Environmental Technologies segment sales were US$234 million, a 5% on-quarter decline and basically even with fourth-quarter 2011 results.
Specialty Materials segment sales were US$238 million, a 20% sequential decline and in line with Corning's expectations. Compared to last year, sales increased 21%.
Life Sciences segment sales were US$143 million, a 7% sequential decline and a 2% on-year gain.
Looking Forward
"The display industry is in a period of transition and we are in the process of resetting expectations for its future growth and profitability," James B Flaws, vice chairman and chief financial officer, remarked. "We are working closely with our customers to reduce glass prices to help them with their immediate financial strains. To that end, price declines will be significant in the first quarter of 2012, as they were in last year's fourth quarter. We expect significant double-digit price declines over the cumulative two-quarter period. We are hopeful that our pricing actions, combined with our capacity decisions, will help us get back to more stable price declines in the coming quarters."