Philips profit falls 11.5% in the first quarter, to 162 million euros

SAO PAULO-the net income attributed to the Dutch Philips Electronics controllers dropped 11.5% in the first quarter, compared to the same three months last year. The result of the company amounted to 162 million euros, influenced by lower sales.
The net revenue of the manufacturer of electronics and equipment for healthcare was 5.26 billion euros from January to March, a decline of 1% year-over-year. Only the segment of "lifestyle", responsible for the sale of DVDs, CDs, and Blu-rays, increased during the period.
Philips 4% drop observed in turnover with health equipment, to 2.13 billion euros, down 2% on the lamps and lighting in General, to 1.97 billion euros, and indentation of 4% in revenues from services and innovation, to 153 million euros. Consumer electronics, in turn, earned 1 billion euros, 9% more.
In terms of regions in which it operates, the company saw its performance improved in emerging economies. High in these countries was 2 percent, to 1.77 billion euros of revenues, while in developed markets there was a fall of 2% to 3.57 billion euros.
The weaker trend of operation already was expected by the Dutch. "We reiterate our view that the first half will be slow, because of demand in Europe and the United States," he said in a statement, the company's Chairman, Frans van Houten.
The Group also suffered in the quarter, however, with the largest base of comparison of 2012. In the last three months of the year was registered an extraordinary gain of 215 million euros on account of the sale of the High Tech Campus Research Center, the Netherlands. In 2013, the same line of the balance sheet recorded only 26 million euros.
Even so, the lack of efficiency of the company weighed from January to March. Decreased 4.3% costs, to 3.16 billion euros, but operating expenses fell only 1.7%, reaching 1.81 billion euros. Thus, the earnings before interest and taxes was 10.6% reduction to 305 million euros, and the operating margin was 6.4% to 5.8%.