Samsung forecasts rebound

VILNIUS - South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung plans to increase sales in the Baltic region by 50 percent this year, says Samsung Electronics Baltics’ President Sangho Jo, reports Nozare.lv. The company justifies this forecast based on Baltic economic growth predictions for this year. For example, analysts predict three to four percent growth in the Baltic countries this year.

Information on the company’s performance in the Baltics last year is still to be released, however, Samsung was able to recover from the previous year and increase turnover by 30 to 40 percent in 2010. The increase in turnover in Latvia was about 40 percent last year.

Describing the Baltic market, Jo said that it is quite small, but Samsung is an active player in it. ‘In many categories - televisions, refrigerators, household electronics and computer monitors - we are the leaders. Compared to countries in Western Europe, Samsung’s position in the Baltics is better,” said Jo. For example, Samsung takes 40 percent of the television market in the Baltics.
Overall, Samsung takes about 50 percent of the television market in Lithuania, 30 percent in Latvia and 20 percent in Estonia, according to Jo.

Asked how Samsung Electronics Baltics plans to increase its sales by 50 percent, Jo said that the company hopes to increase sales in all of its product groups. The company’s main growth “engines” will be the sale of its mobile phone and laptop products.

Jo pointed out that the economies in the Baltics are continuing to recover, which means that the market will grow and Samsung will proportionately gain a larger share of this market. “We are predicting a 30 percent increase in television sales. We are already second in mobile phone sales and third in laptop sales,” Jo added.

Samsung Electronics Baltics turnover in 2009 reached 122.2 million euros, with a profit of 344,400 euros.