LG Display, South Korea's display panel manufacturer, posted its first operating profit in seven quarters during the third quarter, the company said Thursday.

Operating profit reached 164.4 billion won (145.1 million U.S. dollars) in the July-September quarter, turning around from an operating loss of 436.7 billion won (385.4 million U.S. dollars) tallied in the same quarter of last year.

The company returned to the black for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2018, owing to an improved overall performance across its business sectors, LG Display said.

The operating profit beat market expectations of about 100 billion won (88.3 million U.S. dollars).

Revenue expanded 16 percent over the year to 6.74 trillion won (5.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter.

The display panel maker logged a net income of 11.1 billion won (9.8 million U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, after recording a net loss of 442 billion won (390.1 million U.S. dollars) a year earlier.

The company said the revenue increase was driven by a continuous rise in panel shipments for IT products, caused by the growing trend of working at home and attending online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was also ascribed to an increased supply of panels for new mobile phones, strong global TV sales, and the start of full-scale mass-production at the company's OLED panel production plant in China.