Higher profitability
Philips’ turnover grew 2 % on a like-for-like basis to 5.8 billion euro, with growth in North America, Eastern Asia, Central and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, disappointing Chinese sales leveled out the gains made.
The company did manage to create a higher profitability which is why it is now reaping its rewards: a year ago, the company had a 103 million euro net loss, but the past quarter, it made a 324 million euro profit. Philips had to pay a huge fee to Masimo last year, because it had breached several of its patents.
In the meantime, Philips is also trying to round off the sale of its Lumineds subsidiary to a group of Asian investors who are willing to pay 2.8 billion dollars (2.5 billion euro) for an 80.1 % stake. The American Committee on Foreign investment has filed a complaint on that deal however, so it remains to be seen whether the deal can be pulled off. Philips will try to meet the demands, but the company did mention there is doubt about the deal now.
