Philips Shares Hit On Q4 Loss, Q1 Outlook Amid Weakness In China

(RTTNews) - Shares of Royal Philips N.V. were losing around 12 percent in the morning trading in Amsterdam as well as in pre-market activity on the NYSE, after the Dutch consumer electronics giant reported Wednesday a loss in its fourth quarter, compared to prior year's profit, amid nearly flat sales. Further, amid ongoing weakness in China, the company projects lower margin and comparable sales in its first quarter, while results will be higher in fiscal 2025.

Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips, said, "Despite double-digit declines in demand in both consumer and health systems in China, we returned to positive order growth and continued to drive margin expansion and cash-flow generation. … Within a persistently challenging macro environment, our focus remains on executing our value creation plan, bringing industry-leading innovations to the market and driving a simplified, more agile operating model... Looking ahead, we remain confident in our long-term plan and will continue to work closely with customers as we build on our strong innovation pipeline and focus on execution excellence to drive profitable growth."

The company also increased productivity savings target for 2023-2025 from 2 billion euros to 2.5 billion euros, with 800 million euros to be delivered in 2025.

Further, Philips said it intends to submit to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders a proposal to declare a dividend of 0.85 euro per share, same as last year, in shares or cash.

Looking ahead, for its first quarter, the company projects a mid-single-digit decline in first quarter mainly due to lower demand in China and royalties phasing, with correspondingly lower Adjusted EBITA margin.

However, for fiscal 2025, Philips expects 1 percent-3 percent comparable sales growth, including a mid- to high-single-digit decline in China; as well as adjusted EBITA margin increasing 30-80 bps to 11.8 percent-12.3 percent.

The company anticipates comparable sales growth to be back-end-loaded in the year.

For the fourth quarter, Philips reported net loss of 333 million euros, compared to prior year's profit of 38 million euros. Loss per share was 0.36 euro, compared to profit of 0.04 euro a year ago.

Adjusted income from continuing operations was 0.51 euro, compared to 0.40 euro in the prior year.

The latest results reflected income tax expense of 449 million euros, compared to prior year's income of 132 million euros.

Income from operations, however, climbed to 199 million euros from last year's 24 million euros. Adjusted EBITA increased 60 basis points to 13.5 percent.

Sales were 5.044 billion euros, slightly lower than last year's 5.062 billion euros. 5,044

Comparable sales growth was 1 percent with solid growth of 5 percent in the rest of the world, despite double-digit decline in China.

Comparable order intake also increased 2 percent in the quarter, with strong performance in the North America and Growth geographies, partly offset by a double-digit decline in demand in China.

In Amsterdam, Philips shares were trading at 23.96 euros, down 11.52 percent.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, the shares were at $24.95, down 11.87 percent.

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