On July 29, 2021, the Philips office building in Warsaw, Poland.
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Dutch equipment manufacturer shares Philips The company’s shares rose more than 10.5% in early trading on Monday report Second-quarter profit beat expectations.
The stock gave back slightly its gains and was up 10.45% as of 9:32 a.m. London time.
Although sales in China fell, demand in North America remained strong, with group comparable sales rising 2% to 4.5 billion euros ($4.88 billion).
The company, which makes medical devices and personal care products such as electronic toothbrushes, also saw comparable orders increase 9% in three months.
Philips said demand in China was weakening in part because of Beijing’s push for self-sufficiency in key technologies, including in health care, amid tensions between China and the United States. However, it added that the country remained a “fundamentally attractive growth market”.
Chief Executive Roy Jakobs told CNBC he was encouraged by “strong” second-quarter results, adding that he was “confident” the company would achieve its full-year comparable sales growth target of 3-5%.
Jacobs added in the statement: “In a challenging macro environment, we achieved significant margin improvement driven by our productivity initiatives, operational stability due to improved working capital management Cash flow and comparable sales growth consistent with our plans.
The company reported a number of cost savings during the period, including €195 million in productivity savings through the operating model, €57 million in savings, €71 million in procurement savings and €67 million in other savings. plan. Since 2022, Philips has begun restructuring and plans to lay off about 10,000 people, accounting for 13% of Philips’ total employees as of January last year. Reuters reported at the time.
Meanwhile, Philips said it has agreed to pay $1.1 billion under settlements related to Respironics personal injury lawsuits and U.S. medical surveillance class action lawsuits
The settlement, involving the company’s defective sleep apnea devices, began with June 2021 recall Due to health issues.
Jacobs said the settlement brings “finality” to the U.S. case and allows the company to refocus its focus on innovation. Other cases outside the U.S. are ongoing
