(Yicai Global) April 13 -- China’s BOE Technology Group is expecting profit in the first quarter to eclipse the whole of last year due to surging demand for the liquid crystal display panels used in mobile phones and other electronic devices and the firm’s expanded production capacity.

Net profit for the three months ended March 31 could reach as much as CNY5.2 billion (USD793.6 million), the Beijing-based firm said in its annual earnings report yesterday. This would be more than the entire 2020, which brought in CNY5 billion, and a nine-fold leap on its profit of CNY567 million (USD86.6 million) in the first quarter last year.

The firm’s sales of flexible organic light emitting diode displays more than doubled last year from 2019 and prices have been on the rise since June last year and continue to spiral, the report said.

BOE, which makes screens for smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and TV sets, is now the second biggest supplier of flexible displays in the world and the biggest in China, it said. Sales grew 16 percent last year, bringing in revenue of CNY135.6 billion (USD20.7 billion).

BOE is not the only company to benefit from the market boom. Rival TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology logged a 15-fold year on year increase in profit in the first quarter and profit from its large-size panel sales jumped more than 50 percent from the previous quarter.

BOE’s stock price [SHE:000725] closed up 1.56 percent today at CNY6.53 (USD1).

Editor: Kim Taylor