MEA is critical to LG – Kim

Remmy Nweke

Chief Executive of the Korean Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firm, LG Electronics, Mr. S.S. Kim, has declared that the Middle East and Africa is critical to the company’s global leadership.

He made this declaration while visiting Dubai for the second time in two years, Mr. Kim noted that the regions play a major role in LG Electronics’ strategy for global leadership in the consumer electronics industry.

According to him, the region-specific product innovation of LG would continue to inspire the ‘Life’s Good’ brand.

The LG chief also predicted that the firm’s Global System for Mobile (GSM) handset products for major growth in the MEA this year, replicates the digital leader’s dominance in the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) segment.

“Our success in the Middle East and Africa is remarkable. The construction boom and changing customer trends in a young and rapidly growing market are presenting big opportunities for the brand,” he said.

Stressing that LG aims to rank among the top three global electronics and communications companies, and even double its sales, profitability and shareholder value by 2010.

ITRealms Online recollects that LG Electronics registered worldwide sales of more than US$35 billion in 2005. The mobile communications, digital appliances, and display divisions each contributed around US$10 billion – and media products generated sales worth US$5.5 billion.

Equally, last year, LG maintained its world number one position for the CDMA handsets, residential air conditioners, Digital Video Display (DVD) players, optical storage devices, home theatre systems, and Televisions.

LG was also number two for PDP TVs and modules, with a market share of 15 and 27 per cent respectively.

“Our target for global sales in 2006 is over US$43 billion, and that’s 23 per cent growth compared to 2005. We expect US$14 billion to come from our display division, US$12 billion from mobile handsets, US$11 billion from digital appliances, and US$6 billion from the media business,” he asserted.

He therefore lauded LG’s regional team on their hardwork and business performance. “The Middle East and Africa have traditionally been important markets for air conditioners, but new product categories are also having a major impact. Demand for LCD and PDP TVs is very encouraging in both the commercial and domestic sectors, and combined sales increased by 75 per cent last year. We are also the number-one selling laptop brand in the UAE from specialist electronics stores.“But the biggest opportunity comes from GSM handsets. A lot of time has been spent building up our distribution channel in the region, and we are introducing an excellent, youthful new product line-up for our regional customers,” he pointed out.