Dutch electronics giant Philips today reported a three-fold rise in third-quarter net income to €524m, due partly to rising emerging market sales.
'We continued on our growth path in emerging markets, with 19% nominal and 7% comparable sales growth,' Philips president Gerard Kleisterlee said. 'This means that we now generate more than one-third of our sales in these markets,' he added.
The income statement was boosted by €154m from the sale of Philips' remaining stake in semi-conductor manufacturer NXP to the Philips UK pension fund. Philips said comparable sales for mature markets, 'in a still fragile economic environment', declined by 1%.
Overall sales grew from €5.6 billion a year ago to €6.2 billion, with a 4% increase in comparable sales figures for healthcare products and 7% in lighting, the company said.
For consumer lifestyle products, comparable sales were 5% lower than a year ago, with comparable sales of televisions 12% down.
'Given the uncertain economic climate and fragile consumer confidence in some of our markets, we take a cautious view on revenue development in Q4 2010,' Philips said.
Philips employs over 118,000 people in more than 60 countries.
