Shares of Philips N.V. were losing around 17 percent in the morning trading in Amsterdam as well as in pre-market activity on the NYSE, after the Dutch consumer electronics giant trimmed its comparable sales growth view for fiscal 2024 after reporting weak sales and orders and flat comparable sales in its third quarter. The sales mainly were hit by further deteriorated demand in China.
Meanwhile, the company now sees annual adjusted EBITA margin at the upper end of the previous outlook range, after reporting significantly higher profit in its latest quarter.
According to the firm, China remains a fundamentally attractive growth market in the long term, with market conditions expected to remain uncertain.
Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips, said, In the quarter, demand from hospitals and consumers in China further deteriorated, while we continue to see solid growth in other regions. We have adjusted our full-year sales outlook to reflect the continued impact from China. Strong improvement in profitability was driven by progress on our execution priorities, productivity measures and the improved margins of our AI-driven, industry-leading innovations. Within a challenging macro environment, we remain focused on successfully executing our three-year plan to fully capture growth and margin expansion opportunities.
For fiscal 2024, the company now expects the annual adjusted EBITA margin to be around 11.5 percent, which is at the upper end of the previous range of 11 percent to 11.5 percent.
Reflecting the significant deterioration in demand in China, comparable sales growth is now expected within the 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent range for the full year 2024. Previously, comparable sales growth was expected to be between 3 percent and 5 percent.
But, Comparable sales growth outside of China remains within the 3-5 percent range.
The company now projects annual free cash flow to be around 0.9 billion euros, which is at the lower end of the range of 0.9 billion euros to 1.1 billion euros.
In its third quarter, Philips net income attributable to shareholders climbed to 181 million euros from last years 88 million euros. On a per share basis, quarterly earnings rose to 0.19 euro from 0.09 euro in the previous year.
The results reflected higher gross margin and lower Respironics field action running costs, partly offset by higher tax expenses.
Adjusted EBITA margin increased 160 basis points to 11.8 percent from 10.2 percent a year ago.
Meanwhile, sales for the third quarter declined 2 percent to 4.38 billion euros from 4.47 billion euros in the prior year.
Group comparable sales were flat on the back of 11 percent growth last year and deterioration in demand in China. Meanwhile, all other regions recorded growth.
In the quarter, comparable order intake declined 2 percent due to China, despite solid order intake growth in Diagnosis & Treatment, particularly in the US.
Segment-wise, Diagnosis & Treatment comparable sales decreased 1 percent, on the back of 14 percent growth last year, despite solid growth outside of China.
Connected Care comparable sales were flat, with growth in Enterprise Informatics and Sleep & Respiratory Care offset by a lowsingle-digit decline in Monitoring.
In Personal Health, comparable sales decreased 5 percent due to a double-digit decline in China, more than offsetting a robust performance elsewhere.
In Amsterdam, Philips shares were trading at 24.55 euros, down 16.72 percent.
In pre-market activity on the NYSE, the shares were at $26.42, down 16.58 percent.
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