Monday, October 24, 2016
Royal Philips NV third-quarter profit rose 14 percent as performance at the Dutch company’s personal health and diagnosis and treatment businesses improved.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization were 649 million euros ($705 million) in the three months through September, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Monday. That compared with 570 million euros in the same quarter last year. Sales rose 2 percent on a comparable basis to 5.9 billion euros.
“Our outlook for 2016 remains unchanged, as we expect further earnings improvement in the fourth quarter of the year,” Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten said in the statement. “We remain concerned about risk due to volatility in the markets in which we operate.”
Under Van Houten, Philips is sharpening its focus on growing in the health-care market. The company this year sold shares of its lighting division, now called Philips Lighting, in an initial public offering in May and is planning to sell its Lumileds components business in the second half of the year after an agreed deal was scrapped earlier in 2016 due to regulatory issues.
Philips plans to sell the remaining 71 percent stake in the lighting business “over the next several years” and “continues to actively engage in discussions for the sale of the combined Lumileds and automotive businesses,” the company said.
The shares have advanced 11 percent this year, while Philips Lighting have gained 5.6 percent since their May listing.
Source : bloomberg.com
