Dutch electronics giant Philips yesterday reported a 57 million euro (US$76 million) net loss for the first quarter of the year and warned the economic crisis would further hurt business in the months ahead.
The loss was accompanied by a 17 percent decline in sales to 5.1 billion euros. Philips saw net profit of 294 million euros during the same period last year.
The results correspond to forecasts from eight analysts questioned by Dow Jones Newswires who predicted a figure between a net loss of 98 million euros and a net profit of 28 million euros.
“In the first quarter of 2009 we have seen a significant further deterioration of our markets,” CEO Gerard Kleisterlee said in a statement.
“While the effects were felt most strongly in our activities that cater to the consumer market and to the construction and automotive industries, our healthcare sales are now impacted as well. We expect no material change to this situation in quarter two,” he said.
A cost-reduction program launched last year that includes cutting 6,000 jobs will allow the company to save 500 million euros at year’s end instead of 400 million as previously reported, Kleisterlee said.
It reported a loss before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) of 74 million euros compared to a profit of 265 million euros in the first quarter of last year.
The Amsterdam-based company said that it had 5,126 fewer jobs in the first quarter than the previous one because of both structural changes and seasonal reductions.
The company’s sales slide has come with the global economic crisis taking a heavy toll on demand.
Its medical unit sales were down two percent, the company said, while consumer electronic sales dropped 25 percent to 1.8 billion euros.
Lighting division sales fell 19 percent to 1.5 billion euros.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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