UPDATE 2-Alstom keeps margin goal, focuses on order quality

* Alstom still targeting 9 pct operating margin

* Has not seen order cancellations

* Could make acquisitions if make sense

* CEO says still thinks Areva tie-up would make sense

(Adds details from shareholders' meeting)

By Helen Massy-Beresford

PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) - French high-speed train maker Alstom (ALSO.PA)confirmed its fiscal full-year operating margin forecast on Tuesday and said it had not seen any order cancellations despite the global economic slowdown.

The company plans to be selective in future to maintain the "good quality" of its order book, Chief Executive Patrick Kron told the group's annual shareholder meeting.

Last month Alstom posted a drop in fiscal fourth-quarter order intake but stuck to its goal of an operating margin of "around 9 percent" for the full year ending March 2010. [ID:nL0153376] The heavy engineering group's order book stood at 45.67 billion euros ($63.29 billion) at the end of March, with order intake for the full year up 5 percent at 24.58 billion.

Alstom, which competes with Germany's Siemens (SIEGn.DE), will focus on completing the orders it has secured, but will also "maintain and reinforce" its cost-control measures to face up to the difficult economic climate, Finance Director Henri Poupart-Lafarge told the meeting.

The group said last month that it saw good opportunities for its rail business from the numerous economic stimulus plans launched around the world, but a decline in demand for power generation equipment because of postponements to some projects.

AREVA INTEREST

Alstom could make targeted acquisitions if opportunities arise that create value for the group, Poupart-Lafarge said.

Kron said any purchase would have to make sense within the group's business plan and that "one plus one would have to make a bit more than two".

"We see external growth as a way of amplifying and enlarging our organic growth," Kron said, adding that Alstom would continue to be selective about any purchases.