(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Royal Philips Electronics reported a sharp drop in first-quarter profits, with falling television sales in North America offsetting growth in its health care and lighting industries.
The world's largest maker of lighting said its net income was 219 million euros ($347 million), down from 875 million euros ($1.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2007, when it had reported a net gain of 733 million euros ($1.1 billion) for selling a stake in a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC.
Overall sales rose 1% to 5.96 billion euros ($9.44 billion), but comparable sales fell 9% in North America, mainly in televisions and videos, Philips said.
The recent quarter included a gain of 83 million euros ($131 million) for the partial sale of LG Display, Philips said.
CEO Gerard Kleisterlee said performance was strong across most sectors. 'Unfortunately our results are clouded, more than we like, by the adverse situation in our TV business' and lower revenue from license agreements.
Analyst Jurgen Smits van Oyen of Petercam said the results were unimpressive, but no cause for excessive concern. Consumer products were disappointing, but that was balanced by 'positive surprises' in health care. 'On balance, we believe the company has released a fairly decent set of results given the economic circumstances,' he said.
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