Philips core income rises to 1.1b euros, signs 25 partnerships in Asia, Europe and US

Dutch health technology company Philips on Monday reported a 7 percent increase in fourth-quarter core earnings as the coronavirus pandemiccontinued to spur demand for hospital equipment to treat coronavirus patients.

Philips said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) increased to 1.14 billion euros (US$1.39 billion) in the October-December period, with comparable sales up by 7 percent at 6 billion euros.

Full-year income from operations were 1.54 billion euros, compared with 1.64 billion in 2019. Sales amounted to 19.5 billion euros, with 3 percent comparable sales growth.

Philips proposed a dividend of  0.85 euro per share.

Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, said  Philips entered into 25 new long-term strategic partnerships with hospitals in the US, Europe and Asia, to help them achieve their clinical and operational goals with integrated solutions. "We also supported consumers in their homes with telehealth solutions such as tele-dentistry services and remote monitoring.''

New orders increased by 7 percent in the last three months of 2020, taking order growth for the year up to 9 percent.

Van Houten also said Philips continued to gain market share in the healthcare businesses, and ended the year with a strong order book.

Philips confirmed its outlook for "low-single-digit comparable sales growth" in 2021, as demand for COVID-19 equipment is expected to cool down.

Fourth-quarter results were slightly better than the core earnings of 1.12 billion euros, and higher than the 5.91 billion euros of sales analysts polled by the company on average had predicted.-Reuters/The Standard