Philips Reports Q1 2024 Results: Steady Growth Despite Challenges

Philips Reports Q1 2024 Results: Steady Growth Despite Challenges

(IN BRIEF) Royal Philips has released its Q1 2024 results, showcasing a mixed performance marked by steady sales growth, significant litigation settlements, and ongoing operational challenges. Despite a 2.4% increase in group sales, comparable order intake saw a decline of 3.8%, primarily attributed to challenges in the Chinese market. Notably, a USD 1.1 billion settlement was reached for the Respironics litigation in the US, leading to a provision recognition of EUR 982 million. CEO Roy Jakobs expressed confidence in the company’s performance improvement plan for 2024, emphasizing patient safety and quality as top priorities. The agreement with insurers to cover Respironics recall-related product liability claims further solidifies Philips’ path toward sustainable value creation. Despite uncertainties, Philips maintains its outlook for 3-5% comparable sales growth and an Adjusted EBITA margin of 11-11.5% for the full year 2024, bolstered by ongoing innovation initiatives and capital allocation strategies, including the completion of a EUR 1.5 billion share buyback program.

(PRESS RELEASE) AMSTERDAM, 29-Apr-2024 — /EuropaWire/ —

First-quarter highlights

• Group sales amounted to EUR 4.1 billion, with comparable sales growth of 2.4%

• Comparable order intake -3.8%, mainly due to China

• USD 1.1 billion Respironics litigation settlement reached in the US (provision recognized of EUR 982 million)

• Income from operations EUR -824 million, including above provision

• Adjusted EBITA margin of 9.4% of sales

• Free cash outflow of EUR 336 million
• EUR 540 million agreement reached with insurers for Respironics recall-related product liability claims

Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips:

“We started the year in line with our plan, with order intake growth outside China turning positive and strong margin improvement. Supported by key innovation launches and strong focus on our execution priorities, we remain confident in our performance improvement plan for 2024.

Patient safety and quality is our highest priority, and we have taken important steps in further resolving the consequences of the Respironics recall. The remediation of the sleep therapy devices for patients is almost complete, and the test results to date show the use of these devices is not expected to result in appreciable harm to health. We do regret the concern that patients may have experienced.

The approved consent decree and economic loss settlement, and now the resolution of the personal injury and medical monitoring litigation in the US, are significant milestones and provide further clarity on the way forward for Philips.”

Respironics litigation

Philips and plaintiffs’ leadership have reached an agreement, following a mediation with Judge Diane M. Welsh, to resolve the personal injury litigation and the medical monitoring class action to end the uncertainty associated with litigation in the US. Philips and Philips Respironics do not admit any fault or liability, or that any injuries were caused by Respironics’ devices.

The settlement addresses the claims filed in the US courts and potential claims submitted to the census registry. Under the settlement, Philips Respironics has agreed to pay a total of USD 1.1 billion. The related payments are expected in 2025 and will be funded from Philips’ cash flow generation. As a consequence, a EUR 982 million*) provision was recognized in Q1 2024.

In April 2024, Philips Respironics signed a consent decree, which was court-approved, and obtained the final court approval for the previously announced economic loss settlement in the US, for which a provision was recognized in Q1 2023.

Philips also concluded an agreement with insurers to pay Philips EUR 540 million to cover Respironics recall-related product liability claims. This income is expected to be recognized in Q2 2024 and payment is expected during 2024.

Following the remediation of sleep therapy devices and the reassuring test results to date, these important milestones on litigation, the consent decree and insurance provide Philips with a clear path forward for sustainable value creation. See here for more information on the Respironics litigation.

*) After converting the USD 1.1 billion amount to euro and discounting for time.

Group and segment performance

Group comparable sales increased 2.4%, with growth in mature and growth geographies, despite a decline in China. The market in China continues to be impacted by the industry-wide anti-corruption measures initiated by the government and by subdued consumer demand. In the first quarter, the government of China announced a subsidy program for hospitals to upgrade aged medical equipment, which will support gradual improvement of a fundamentally attractive market.

Diagnosis & Treatment comparable sales increased 3%, with growth in Image Guided Therapy and Precision Diagnosis, on the back of double-digit growth in Q1 2023. Adjusted EBITA margin was 9.2%, mainly due to normalization of the product mix, as anticipated.

Connected Care comparable sales declined 1%, with growth in Enterprise Informatics offset by a decline in Monitoring on the back of double-digit growth in Q1 2023. Adjusted EBITA margin increased to 6.4%.

Personal Health comparable sales increased 3%, driven by growth in Personal Care and Mother & Child Care. Adjusted EBITA margin improved to 15.2%.

Productivity

Total productivity savings of EUR 151 million in the quarter: operating model savings of EUR 55 million, procurement savings of EUR 40 million, and other programs savings of EUR 56 million.

Outlook

Philips reiterates its confidence in delivering the 2025 plan, acknowledging that uncertainties remain. For the full year 2024, Philips continues to expect 3-5% comparable sales growth and an Adjusted EBITA margin of 11-11.5%.

The expected free cash flow is now increased to EUR 0.9-1.1 billion in 2024, including the receipt from insurers for the Respironics product liability claims and the remaining payment related to the economic loss settlement. The personal injury and medical monitoring litigation settlement payment is expected in 2025.

The outlook excludes the potential impact of other previously disclosed Philips Respironics-related legal proceedings, including the investigation by the US Department of Justice.

Customer, innovation and ESG highlights

• Philips was recognized as a Clarivate Top 100 Global Innovator for the 11th consecutive year and ranked as a top medical technology patent applicant at the European Patent Office in 2023.

• Philips launched the new Azurion image-guided therapy system and advanced informatics to enhance the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of stroke and other neurovascular patients.

• Supporting short-staffed radiology departments, Philips introduced the new AI-enabled CT 5300 designed for more accurate and reliable imaging results using up to 80% lower radiation dose, while enhancing productivity and quality.

• Philips signed a 10-year agreement with the US Nicklaus Children’s Health System to provide AI-enabled radiology and monitoring solutions for deeper clinical insights, and improved workflow and productivity.

• Further expanding the successful OneBlade product range, Philips launched OneBlade Intimate – the first shaving product designed to be gender-neutral and protect the most sensitive skin.

• More than 1,100 Philips MR systems with the helium-free operations BlueSeal magnet and AI support have now been installed globally, enabling more productive and sustainable MR imaging operations.

Capital allocation

In April 2024, Philips completed the EUR 1.5 billion share buyback program for capital reduction purposes announced on July 26, 2021, and in the second quarter intends to cancel the 4.4 million shares acquired this year. See here for more information on the share buyback program.

Visit our results hub for more on our financial and sustainability performance over the past quarter.

Conference call and audio webcast

Roy Jakobs, CEO, and Abhijit Bhattacharya, CFO, will host a conference call for investors and analysts at 10:00 am CET today to discuss the first quarter results. A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the Philips Investor Relations website and can be accessed here.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2023 sales of EUR 18.2 billion and employs approximately 69,100 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found 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 Adjusted EBITA *), future restructuring and acquisition related charges and other costs, future developments in Philips’ organic business and the completion of acquisitions and divestments. Forward-looking statements can be identified generally as those containing words such as “anticipates”, “assumes”, “believes”, “estimates”, “expects”, “should”, “will”, “will likely result”, “forecast”, “outlook”, “projects”, “may” or similar expressions. 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: Philips’ ability to gain leadership in health informatics in response to developments in the health technology industry; Philips’ ability to keep pace with the changing health technology environment; macroeconomic and geopolitical changes; integration of acquisitions and their delivery on business plans and value creation expectations; securing and maintaining Philips’ intellectual property rights, and unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property rights; Philips’ ability to meet expectations with respect to ESG-related matters; failure of products and services to meet quality or security standards, adversely affecting patient safety and customer operations; breaches of cybersecurity; challenges in simplifying our organization and our ways of working; the resilience of our supply chain; attracting and retaining personnel; challenges in driving operational excellence and speed in bringing innovations to market; compliance with regulations and standards including quality, product safety and (cyber) security; compliance with business conduct rules and regulations including privacy and upcoming ESG disclosure and due diligence requirements; treasury and financing risks; tax risks; reliability of internal controls, financial reporting and management process; global inflation. 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 also the Risk management chapter included in the Annual Report 2023.

Third-party market share data

Statements regarding market share, contained in this document, including those regarding Philips’ competitive position, are based on outside sources such as specialized research institutes, industry and dealer panels in combination with management estimates. Where information is not yet available to Philips, market share statements may also be based on estimates and projections prepared by management and/or based on outside sources of information. Management’s estimates of rankings are based on order intake or sales, depending on the business.

Market Abuse Regulation

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. This press release was distributed at 07:00 am CET on April 29, 2024.

Use of non-IFRS information

In presenting and discussing the Philips Group’s financial position, operating results and cash flows, management uses certain non-IFRS financial measures. These non-IFRS financial measures should not be viewed in isolation as alternatives to the equivalent IFRS measure and should be used in conjunction with the most directly comparable IFRS measures. Non-IFRS financial measures do not have standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. A reconciliation of these non-IFRS measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measures is contained in this document. Further information on non-IFRS measures can be found in the Annual Report 2023.

Presentation

All amounts are in millions of euros unless otherwise stated. Due to rounding, amounts may not add up precisely to totals provided. All reported data is unaudited. Financial reporting is in accordance with the accounting policies as stated in the Annual Report 2023. Prior-period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current-period presentation; this includes immaterial organizational changes.

Effective Q1 2024, Philips has revised the order intake policy to reflect the full contract value for software contracts that start generating revenue within an 18-month horizon, instead of only the next 18 months to revenue horizon. This change has been implemented to better align with the specific business model of our software businesses, simplify the order intake process, and better align with peers. Prior-period comparable order intake percentages have been restated accordingly. This revision has not resulted in any material changes to the order intake percentages for the periods presented.

Philips has realigned the composition of its reporting segments effective from April 1, 2023. The most notable change is the shift of the previous Enterprise Diagnostic Informatics business from the Diagnosis & Treatment segment to the Connected Care segment. This business, together with other informatics solutions in the Connected Care segment, now forms the Enterprise Informatics business. Accordingly, the comparative figures for the affected segments have been restated. The restatement has been published on the Philips Investor Relations website and can be accessed here.

Per share calculations have been adjusted retrospectively for all periods presented to reflect the issuance of shares in the second quarter of 2023 in connection with the 2022 share dividend.

*) Non-IFRS financial measure. Refer to Reconciliation of non-IFRS information.

Media Contacts:

Elco van Groningen
Philips External Relations
Tel: +31681039584
elco.van.groningen@philips.com

Ben Zwirs
Philips External Relations
Tel: +31615213446
ben.zwirs@philips.com

Dorin Danu
Philips Investor Relations
Tel: +31205977055
dorin.danu@philips.com

SOURCE: Philips