video Finance Videos
Philips shocks with 2014 warning
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - 01:45
Apr.22 - Unfavourable currency effects, restructuring costs and weakness in China and Russia are to blame for an unexpectedly large dip in Q1 profits, Philips CEO Frans van Houten tells Reuters. David Pollard reports.
▲ Hide Transcript
▶ View Transcript
The warning took markets by surprise and knocked seven per cent off Philips' share price in early trading. The Dutch healthcare, lighting and consumer appliances group says it'll struggle to post a rise in operating profit for the current year. Chief exec Frans van Houten. SOUNDBITE (English) PHILIPS CEO, FRANS VAN HOUTEN, SAYING: ''We are faced with multiple headwinds. Of course, we continue on our path to accelerate and improve our results but we were unable to offset all these headwinds in the first quarter.'' Fiercest of those headwinds: a stronger euro which alone, says Philips, has knocked five per cent off revenues. A slowdown in China's construction industry - that's hitting lighting sales. And Russia's crisis over Ukraine. SOUNDBITE (English) PHILIPS CEO, FRANS VAN HOUTEN, SAYING: ''The conflict in Russia means that the whole economy in Russia is under pressure. And we see that reflected in much lower healthcare business. But also the other businesses are affected.'' For the first quarter, the Dutch firm missed forecasts to report a 22 per cent drop in earnings. Sales were down too - investors describing the results as disappointing all round. Mike Ingram of BGC. SOUNDBITE (English) MIKE INGRAM, MARKETS ANALYST, BGC PARTNERS, SAYING: ''The profile of Philips' business is, you know, showing weakness very clearly in emerging markets - a lot of these currencies have themselves devalued - a lot of these consumers particularly on the healthcare and LED lighting side being extremely cautious. And also, you know, they still have this DVD and multi-media business which they want to get rid of, which is suffering remorseless margin compression, and that's why you're seeing this big miss.'' Fans of Philips point to a share price that overall during two years of restructuring has gained more than 80 per cent. Its boss says the company is ''undeterred'' by the latest results - and reaffirmed its 2016 targets.
Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code
Philips shocks with 2014 warning
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - 01:45
Top News »
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:29)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:40)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (0:56)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (0:48)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:50)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:12)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:56)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (0:45)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:22)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (1:29)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (1:06)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (2:01)
Migrant Crisis »
Fri, Mar 16, 2018 - (0:50)
Fri, Dec 22, 2017 - (1:52)
Fri, Dec 22, 2017 - (1:07)
Fri, Dec 22, 2017 - (1:37)
Editors' Picks »
8:14am EDT - (2:00)
5:00am EDT - (1:36)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:56)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:24)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (2:04)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (0:57)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (1:45)
Tue, Apr 17, 2018 - (2:44)
Tue, Apr 17, 2018 - (2:15)
Mon, Apr 16, 2018 - (1:59)
Politics »
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:40)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:07)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:46)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (2:16)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (1:32)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (1:00)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (0:32)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (1:37)
Wed, Apr 18, 2018 - (0:58)
Wed, Apr 18, 2018 - (0:35)
Innovations »
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:55)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (1:30)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:50)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 - (1:54)
Wed, Apr 18, 2018 - (1:03)
Wed, Apr 18, 2018 - (1:01)
Tue, Apr 17, 2018 - (2:15)
Mon, Apr 16, 2018 - (1:54)
Mon, Apr 16, 2018 - (0:50)
Fri, Apr 13, 2018 - (2:15)
Entertainment »
6:40am EDT - (1:18)
5:06am EDT - (1:25)
3:16am EDT - (2:02)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:28)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:39)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (2:11)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:50)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (0:39)
Sat, Apr 21, 2018 - (0:32)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:24)
Rough Cuts »
7:34am EDT - (0:59)
3:16am EDT - (2:02)
Mon, Apr 23, 2018 - (1:50)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (0:31)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (1:29)
Sun, Apr 22, 2018 - (2:01)
Sat, Apr 21, 2018 - (1:18)
Sat, Apr 21, 2018 - (2:00)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (1:47)
Fri, Apr 20, 2018 - (0:59)
Moving Pictures »
Tue, Apr 03, 2018 - (1:46)
Fri, Mar 02, 2018 - (2:13)
Thu, Feb 08, 2018 - (1:43)
Thu, Jan 04, 2018 - (1:01)
Fri, Dec 22, 2017 - (2:08)
Reuters Investigates »
Wed, Oct 11, 2017 - (10:18)
Wed, Aug 23, 2017 - (6:44)
Thu, Mar 16, 2017 - (2:26)
Tue, Nov 01, 2016 - (2:15)
Thu, Sep 29, 2016 - (2:19)
Fri, Aug 05, 2016 - (2:04)
Mon, Mar 28, 2016 - (3:02)
Thu, Mar 10, 2016 - (2:34)
Mon, Dec 07, 2015 - (2:58)
Mon, Dec 07, 2015 - (2:20)
Mon, Dec 07, 2015 - (0:35)
Mon, Dec 07, 2015 - (3:53)
Dateline Asia »
Tue, Dec 05, 2017 - (2:06)
Tue, Dec 05, 2017 - (2:11)
Fri, Dec 01, 2017 - (2:04)
Thu, Nov 30, 2017 - (2:10)
Thu, Nov 30, 2017 - (2:14)
Wed, Nov 29, 2017 - (2:11)
Tue, Nov 28, 2017 - (1:55)
Tue, Nov 28, 2017 - (2:21)
Mon, Nov 27, 2017 - (2:25)
Fri, Nov 24, 2017 - (2:16)
Fri, Nov 24, 2017 - (2:14)
Thu, Nov 23, 2017 - (2:18)