A man walks past the logo of LG Electronics at its headquarters in Seoul July 18, 2005. LG Electronics Inc's plasma business is improving steadily and the display division hopes to post a single-digit operating profit margin by the end of the year, the head of its display business said on Sunday.
(REUTERS/You Sung-Ho)
LG to boost flat TV sales
A man walks past the logo of LG Electronics at its headquarters in Seoul July 18, 2005. LG Electronics Inc's plasma business is improving steadily and the display division hopes to post a single-digit operating profit margin by the end of the year, the head of its display business said on Sunday.
(REUTERS/You Sung-Ho)
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc <066570.KS> said it aims to boost North American sales by 13 percent in 2008 and targets an increase of more than 70 percent in global flat-screen TV sales compared to last year.
LG's top regional executive, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, tried to dispel concern over the effects on the company of a U.S. spending slowdown.
"As long as we understand what the consumer needs and deliver, the slowdown is not a major problem," Michael Ahn, head of LG's North American operations, told Reuters on the sidelines of the CES, the industry's largest U.S. trade show.
Sales in North America represented about 23 percent of the company's total consolidated sales, LG said, declining to give 2007 numbers.
In Seoul, LG said in a statement it aimed to sell 17 million flat-screen televisions in 2008, including 14 million liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs and 3 million plasma TVs.
LG is estimated to have sold slightly less than 10 million flat-panel TVs in 2007, short of its target of 10.5 million largely due to weak plasma TV sales.
"For all of 2007, the result fell slightly short of 10 million," a company spokesman said. "We set an ambitious goal for the new year, with LCD TV sales seen doubling."
According to market researcher DisplaySearch, LG was the world's third-largest plasma TV brand by revenue in the third quarter and fifth-biggest in the LCD TV market.
U.S. TV, HANDSET SALES
Ahn said he expects LG to improve its market share for U.S. plasma TV sales to 15 percent and its LCD TV market share to at least 10 percent in 2008. IN 2007, the company had an 8 percent to 9 percent share in plasma TVs and a 7 percent share in LCD TVs in the U.S., LG said in preliminary numbers.
LG is the third-ranked plasma TV shipper in North America, after Panasonic, made by Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co <6752.T>, and home rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>, according to DisplaySearch.
Ahn also said LG, the world's fifth-biggest mobile phone maker after Nokia Oyj <NOK1V.HE>, Samsung, Motorola Inc <MOT.N> and Sony Ericsson <6758.T> <ERICb.ST>, intends to solidify its position as the second-biggest handset maker in the United States.
He said the company, which last year introduced a single DVD player that supports both the Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition video formats, intended to continue the dual-format approach despite Warner Bros studios' abrupt decision on Friday to join the Blu-ray camp.
LG shares were flat at 104,000 won on Seoul's main exchange by 0100 GMT, outperforming the benchmark KOSPI's <.KS11> 1.52 percent fall.
(Additional reporting by Philipp Gollner and Rhee So-eui in Seoul, editing by Phil Berlowitz)
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