First half LG sales turnover in Mid-East and Africa touch US$1.36 billion

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Global and regional digital leader LG Electronics has reported a 20 per cent growth in its first half year sales performance in the Middle East and Africa region over the corresponding period last year, with turnover touching nearly US$1.36 billion.

LG Electronics attributed the positive growth to an impressive 217 per cent jump in its LCD TV business, while its GSM handset segment was boosted by 62 per cent over the same period in 2005. The company’s PC division also continued to drive growth with a 38 per cent increase in revenues.

In terms of volume, LG Electronics’ air-conditioners (US$385 million), televisions (US$165 million) and refrigerators (US$135 million) were the leading products. The digital appliances sector also showed a remarkable recovery, registering a 24 per cent growth. The digital media division grew by 19 per cent while the digital display segment showed a growth of 5 per cent.

“We are on track to achieve and even surpass our 2006 sales target of US$2.7 billion,” explained K. W. Kim, President, LG Electronics, Middle East & Africa. “Our aggressive implementation of the ‘Blue Ocean’ management strategy, combined with our continuous emphasis on technological and design innovation, is one of the main factors for this unprecedented growth.”

The ‘Blue Ocean’ system allows the company to steer clear of price wars in a competitive market to focus on more premium products that can offer added value to customers. The strategy also helps LG Electronics to concentrate on key areas for the company – products, business methods, work systems and people – in its attempt to strengthen its organisational competency.

Through the ‘Blue Ocean’ initiative, LG plans to double its sales volume, profit and shareholder benefit by 2010 with 30 per cent of its sales volume and 50 per cent of its profit coming through ‘Blue Ocean’ products, which have larger growth potential based on sales performance, market leadership and profit generation.

Kim said: “Due to the encouraging response to our plasma TV and mobile segments, we are confident in our ability to continue to grow globally. The growth associated with the ‘Blue Ocean’ initiative will not be accomplished in just one or two years – but is a multi-pronged effort that will firmly reinforce our position among the top three in the electronics industry.”

Last year, LG maintained its world number one position for CDMA handsets, residential air conditioners, DVD players, optical storage devices, home theatre systems, and TVs. LG was number two for PDP TVs and modules, with a market share of 15 and 27 per cent respectively.