LG mobiles help double UK sales

LG Electronics has doubled it sales in the UK in 2004 to £560m and set a target of £840m for next year.

LG Electronics has doubled it sales in the UK in 2004 to £560m and set a target of £840m for next year.

The Korean-based group, which employs almost 900 people at its factory in Newport, South Wales, has based its UK growth on sales of its mobile phones, which have become a favourite among users of "3", the third-generation mobile phone operation of Hutchison Whampoa.

Its LCD and plasma-screen TVs, which are made in its Newport factory, have also been a key to its growth, according to James Jeong, the company's UK president.

LG has expanded rapidly to challenge the likes of Nokia in the mobile phone market; new figures from the market analysts Gartner yesterday showed the Finnish group's market share continuing to slide.

Global mobile phone sales in the third quarter of this year amounted to 167 million handsets, a 26 per cent increase on the same period last year. However, while LG saw the biggest growth in market share among the major manufacturers, from 5.3 per cent to 6.7 per cent, Nokia's share fell from 34.2 per cent to 30.9 per cent.

LG said it expected to be the leading provider of 3G mobile phone handsets by the end of this year. Sales of its phones across Europe are expected to reach £906m, an increase of 500 per cent. Its sales of plasma-screen TVs have increased by 190 per cent across Europe and are expected to total £143m this year, while LCD television sales are up 170 per cent to £143m.