Philips announced sales growth and improved operational results in its Q2 and H1 2013 results

01-8-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — Philips reports second-quarter comparable sales growth of 3% to EUR 5.7 billion; operational results improve by 30% to EUR 530 million

Comparable sales in growth geographies up 12%, driven by China
EBITA was EUR 603 million, or 10.7% of sales, and included a EUR 78 million past-service pension cost gain in the US
EBITA excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and other gains increased to EUR 530 million, or 9.4% of sales
Net income of EUR 317 million, compared to EUR 102 million in Q2 2012
Inventories as a percentage of sales at 15.7%, a reduction of 1.5 percentage points compared to Q2 2012
EUR 2 billion share buy-back program completed

Frans van Houten, CEO:
“We are pleased that in the second quarter our operational results improved year-on-year for the fifth quarter in a row and sales grew by 3% in a challenging economic environment, thanks to our highly engaged employees. The Accelerate! transformation program continues to drive performance improvement, resulting in a better product portfolio, higher gross margins, faster time to market, reduced inventory levels and a structurally lower cost base.

At Healthcare, order intake grew by 7%, supported by new product launches and significant customer wins. Sales were flat year-on-year, due to the weaker order intake growth in the previous quarters in the United States and Europe. Comparable sales at Consumer Lifestyle increased an impressive 13%, as locally relevant product launches and better operational execution helped to drive growth. At Lighting, all businesses delivered better operational results. We continued to see strong traction in LED, with LED-based sales growing 28% over the previous year.

Looking ahead to the second half of 2013, we are concerned about economic uncertainties around the world; however, we remain committed to reach our financial targets this year.”

Q2 financials: Results improve across all sectors. Strong growth at Consumer Lifestyle, modest growth at Lighting. Healthcare order intake up by 7%.

Healthcare currency-comparable equipment order intake increased by 7% year-on-year, with both Imaging Systems and Patient Care & Clinical Informatics showing growth. Comparable sales were flat year-on-year as the growth at Customer Services, Patient Care & Clinical Informatics and Home Healthcare Solutions was offset by a decline at Imaging Systems due to soft order intake in the previous quarters. In growth geographies, comparable sales showed a double-digit increase. EBITA margin excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and the past-service pension cost gain in the US increased by 1.2 percentage points year-on-year to 14.3%.

Consumer Lifestyle comparable sales increased by 13%, driven by good growth in all businesses, i.e. Domestic Appliances, Personal Care, as well as Health & Wellness. In growth geographies, comparable sales showed a strong double-digit increase. EBITA margin excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and the past-service pension cost gain in the US increased to 7.8%, a year-on-year improvement of 2.8 percentage points.

Lighting comparable sales increased by 2%, led by Automotive, Lumileds and Consumer Luminaires. LED-based sales grew by 28%, representing 25% of total Lighting sales. In growth geographies, comparable sales showed a double-digit increase. EBITA margin excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and the past-service pension cost gain in the US was 8.1%, a year-on-year improvement of 2.4 percentage points.

We have completed the EUR 2 billion share buy-back program that started in July 2011.

Accelerate! is driving performance improvement

Now in its third year, our change and performance improvement program Accelerate! continues to drive better results across the organization. The program, which runs through 2017, has five streams to enhance customer relevance, change company culture, reduce overhead costs, streamline our End2End customer value chains, and reallocate resources to profitable growth opportunities.

In the second quarter, Accelerate! initiatives to enhance customer relevance resulted in encouraging success in our markets. For example, we established an innovative alliance with Georgia Regents Medical Center, through which Philips will provide a comprehensive range of consulting services, advanced medical technologies, and operational performance, planning and maintenance services with pre-determined monthly operational costs over a 15-year term.

At Domestic Appliances, we have leveraged our Povos acquisition to make locally relevant and successful products, such as the Noodle Maker in China and the Multicooker in Russia. And underlining our leadership in innovative, energy efficient lighting, we installed new lighting systems in Brazil and at The Change Initiative’s retail space in Dubai, supporting its claim that it is the most sustainable commercial building in the world.

Over 1,200 senior leaders and 600 middle managers have participated in change programs to create a high-performance culture. Additionally, more than 1,300 people have received specialized Lean training to drive End2End transformation of customer value chains. Our overhead cost reduction program has resulted in EUR 673 million total gross savings to date, including EUR 202 million realized in the first half of 2013. In the quarter, we reduced inventory by 1.5 percentage points of sales year-on-year.

Quarterly Report
Q2 2013 – Quarterly Report

Presentation
Q2 2013 – Quarterly Results Presentation

Conference call and audio webcastA conference call with Frans van Houten, CEO, and Ron Wirahadiraksa, CFO, to discuss the results, will start at 10:00AM CET. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through the link below.
Q2 2013 conference call audio webcast

More information about Frans van Houten and Ron Wirahadiraksa:
Click here for Mr. van Houten’s CV and images
Click here for Mr. Wirahadiraksa’s CV and images

For further information, please contact:

Joost Akkermans
Philips Corporate Communications
Tel: +31 20 59 78049
Email: joost.akkermans@philips.com

Steve Klink
Philips Corporate Communications
Tel.: +31 6 10888824
E-mail: steve.klink@philips.com

About Royal Philips:
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2012 sales of EUR 24.8 billion and employs approximately 115,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

Forward-looking statements
This document and the related oral presentation, including responses to questions following the presentation, contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Philips and certain of the plans and objectives of Philips with respect to these items. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements made about our strategy, estimates of sales growth, future EBITA and future developments in our organic business. By their nature, these statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements.

These factors include but are not limited to domestic and global economic and business conditions, developments within the euro zone, the successful implementation of our strategy and our ability to realize the benefits of this strategy, our ability to develop and market new products, changes in legislation, legal claims, changes in exchange and interest rates, changes in tax rates, pension costs and actuarial assumptions, raw materials and employee costs, our ability to identify and complete successful acquisitions and to integrate those acquisitions into our business, our ability to successfully exit certain businesses or restructure our operations, the rate of technological changes, political, economic and other developments in countries where Philips operates, industry consolidation and competition. As a result, Philips’ actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set forth in such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause future results to differ from such forward-looking statements, see the Risk management chapter included in our Annual Report 2012.

Third-party market share data
Statements regarding market share, including those regarding Philips’ competitive position, contained in this document are based on outside sources such as research institutes, industry and dealer panels in combination with management estimates. Where information is not yet available to Philips, those statements may also be based on estimates and projections prepared by outside sources or management. Rankings are based on sales unless otherwise stated.

Use of non-GAAP information
In presenting and discussing the Philips Group financial position, operating results and cash flows, management uses certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be viewed in isolation as alternatives to the equivalent IFRS measures and should be used in conjunction with the most directly comparable IFRS measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measures is contained in this document. Further information on non-GAAP measures can be found in our Annual Report 2012.

Use of fair-value measurements
In presenting the Philips Group financial position, fair values are used for the measurement of various items in accordance with the applicable accounting standards. These fair values are based on market prices, where available, and are obtained from sources that are deemed to be reliable. Readers are cautioned that these values are subject to changes over time and are only valid at the
balance sheet date. When quoted prices or observable market data are not readily available, fair values are estimated using appropriate valuation models and unobservable inputs. Such fair value estimates require management to make significant assumptions with respect to future developments, which are inherently uncertain and may therefore deviate from actual developments. Critical assumptions used are disclosed in our Annual Report 2012. Independent valuations may have been obtained to support management’s determination of fair values.

All amounts are in millions of euros unless otherwise stated. All reported data is unaudited. Financial reporting is in accordance with the accounting policies as stated in the Annual Report 2012, unless otherwise stated.

Prior-period financials have been revised for the treatment of Audio, Video, Multimedia and Accessories as discontinued operations, the adoption of IAS19R, which mainly relates to pension reporting, and adjustments to the quarterly figures of 2012, which have already been included in the Annual Report 2012 (for an explanation refer to Annual Report 2012 section 12.10 “Significant Accounting Policies”). An overview of the revised 2012 figures per quarter is available on the Philips website, in the Investor Relations section.

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