Philips shares jump 10.5% as second-quarter sales grow despite China weakness

The Philips office building in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2021.

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Shares of Dutch device maker Philips jumped more than 10.5% in early deals Monday after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

Shares pared gains slightly to trade up 10.4% by 8:50 a.m. London time.

Comparable group sales rose 2% to 4.5 billion euros ($4.88 billion), as demand in North America held strong, even as China sales dipped. The company’s comparable order intake over the three-month period grew by 9%.

“I am encouraged by our return to order intake growth this quarter, primarily driven by North America. Within a challenging macro environment we achieved strong margin improvement, supported by our productivity program, solid operational cashflow due to improved working capital management and comparable sales growth in line with our plan,” CEO Roy Jakobs said in a statement.

The company reported a number of cost savings over the period, including productivity savings of 195 million euros across operating model savings of 57 million euros, procurement savings of 71 million euros, and other programs’ savings of 67 million euros. Since 2022, Philips has embarked in a reorganization set to cut roughly 10,000 jobs, or 13% of Philips’ workforce as of January last year, Reuters reported at the time.

At the same time, Philips said it had agreed to pay $1.1 billion under a settlement related to a Respironics personal injury litigation and the medical monitoring class action in the U.S.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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