LG Elec sees Q2 phone sales up 20 pct vs Q1

SINGAPORE, June 17 (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS), the world's No. 4 handset maker, said on Tuesday it expected second-quarter handset sales to grow 20 percent from the first quarter, thanks to good demand for its high-end phones.

LG sold a record 24.4 million phones in the traditionally weak first quarter, and has set a target of 100 million phones for the year.

"There are some obstacles in the worldwide economy, like high oil prices, but our sales have been steady, and we expect our second-quarter sales to rise 20 percent from the first quarter," Jae Bae, President of LG's Mobile Communications division for Southeast Asia, told Reuters in an interview.

"We are very confident of achieving our sales target of 100 million phones this year, and we will aim to exceed that target."

Bae said LG's second-quarter handset sales had been driven by its Viewty touch-screen phone that sports a five megapixel camera and its slim slider phone called Secret, which made its debut in European markets a month ago.

Bae said LG was confident of achieving an operating margin of more than 10 percent on its handsets for 2008. This compares with an operating profit margin of 14 percent in the first quarter, 8.3 percent in the previous quarter and 6.6 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Jennifer Tan, editing by Neil Chatterjee)

((jennifer.tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6403 5660; Reuters Messaging: jennifer.tan.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: LG ELECTRONICS/

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