Philips Q4 core profit rises as robust pandemic-led demand continues

[AMSTERDAM] Dutch health technology company Philips on Monday reported a 7 per cent increase in fourth-quarter core earnings as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spur demand for hospital equipment to treat Covid-19 patients.

Philips said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) increased to 1.14 billion euros (S$1.84 billion) in the October-December period, with comparable sales up 7 per cent at 6 billion euros.

This continued Philips' sharp recovery since the second half of the year, as the first shock of the pandemic waned and hospitals rushed to buy respiratory equipment and appliances that enable remote care.

In the fourth quarter, this led to a 24 per cent jump in sales of its Connected Care division, which supplies monitoring and respiratory care machines and software platforms.

Demand continued to stay strong as new orders increased 7 per cent in the last three months of 2020, taking order growth for the year up to 9 per cent.

"We continued to gain market share in our healthcare businesses, and ended the year with a strong order book," Chief Executive Frans van Houten said.

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

Its 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

KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE

BT is now on Telegram!

For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes