The Dutch multination technology firm Philips posted its first-quarter results on Monday, unable to hit sales predications made by analysts polled for Reuters.
Analysts predicted that the health technology firm would reveal a comparable sales growth of 2.4%. Philips posted a 2% rise in comparable sales growth for the period, with sales in the quarter amounting to €4.2 billion.
The business posted a core profit of €364 million, which comes in higher that the €344 million from the year prior. Additionally, operating cash flow was reported as €14 million.
“We had a reasonable start to the year, as we delivered 2% comparable sales and order intake growth, further building on strong growth in 2018,” said Frans van Houten, CEO of Philips.
The company revealed a strong performance for its Oral Healthcare business, driven by its “innovative” portfolio such as its Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean toothbrush, which uses sensor technology to alert users when too much pressure is being applied, automatically reducing the intensity of brushing.
“We continue to expect our performance momentum to improve over the course of the year, based on the demand for our innovative products and solutions to improve people’s health and enhance care provider productivity, supported by our order book,” CEO Frans van Houten continued.
The company expects to his its growth targets by 2020.
“We reaffirm our overall targets of 4-6% comparable sales growth and an Adjusted EBITA margin improvement of 100 basis points on average per year for the 2017–2020 period.”
At the end of 2018, the CEO of Philips expressed his Brexit concerns, believing that the lack of progress may lead to the company having to rethink its operations in the UK. Frans van Houten said that the firm may have to change its entire supply chain in order to reduce the impacts of the UK’s departure from the European Union.
At 09:35 CEST Monday, shares in Koninklijke Philips NV (AM:PHIA) were trading at +1.96%.
