Philips reports third-quarter comparable sales growth of 5% to EUR 6.1 billion; EBITA of EUR 450 million
• Comparable sales up 5%, with all three sectors contributing to growth
• Sales in growth geographies up 10% on a comparable basis, now representing 36% of total revenue
• Reported EBITA of EUR 450 million, or 7.3% of sales
• Net income of EUR 170 million
• Free cash flow of EUR 395 million
 
Q3 financials: Strong growth at Healthcare and growth businesses in Consumer Lifestyle. Profit margin improvements for the Group led by Consumer Lifestyle and Healthcare.
 
Healthcare comparable sales grew by 7%, led by double-digit growth at Imaging Systems and high-single-digit growth at Home Healthcare Solutions. In growth geographies, comparable sales increased by 14%. Currency-comparable order intake increased by 6% year-on-year. Reported EBITA margin for the quarter was 13.5%.
 
Consumer Lifestyle comparable sales increased by 3%, driven by double-digit growth in the combined growth businesses, i.e. Personal Care, Health & Wellness and Domestic Appliances. These sales increases were partly offset by a decline at Lifestyle Entertainment. Reported EBITA margin for the quarter was 8.5%.
 
Lighting comparable sales increased by 4%, with double-digit growth at Lumileds and Automotive and low-single-digit growth at Light Sources & Electronics. LED-based sales grew by 51% and now account for 24% of total Lighting sales. Reported EBITA margin for the quarter was 2.2%, reflecting higher restructuring and acquisition-related charges as well as a loss on the sale of industrial assets. Excluding these items, EBITA amounted to 7.0%.
 
We have completed 63% of our EUR 2 billion share buy-back program since the start of the program in July 2011.
 
Accelerate! program continues to make good progress
 
Our multi-year change and performance improvement program Accelerate! continues to make good progress. Philips employees across the globe are becoming more entrepreneurial, resulting in stronger growth for the company, an encouraging sign in a weak global economy. We continued to extend the number of LEAN End-to-End transformations in the last quarter, paving the way for a simplified and more efficient future IT platform. Additionally, we started a program to improve procurement effectiveness and see significant opportunities to reduce the cost of goods and improve gross margins in 2013 and beyond.
 
Our actions to deliver on our overhead cost-reduction program are on track. Cumulative savings amounted to EUR 306 million through the third quarter of 2012. We recently communicated that we have increased our overhead cost savings target to EUR 1.1 billion. The increased savings will require a step-up in restructuring charges this year. We now expect restructuring and acquisition-related charges of approximately EUR 300 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
 
CEO quote:
 Philips’ operational and financial performance in the third quarter demonstrates further progress on our path towards our 2013 financial targets, driven by our transformation program Accelerate!. Our investments in building meaningful innovative solutions to meet the needs of our customers in local markets are positively impacting our growth and performance. Improvements in our operational excellence and agility are positioning the company for better performance in the coming years. The recently announced additional cost savings, as well as our actions to drive higher savings from procurement, further underpin our profitability potential.
 
Group sales growth in the quarter of 5%, together with the cost productivity improvements we have made, enabled us to deliver an EBITA margin of 9.2%, excluding non-operational charges.
 
Our Healthcare business continues to perform well as comparable sales grew 7% and order intake increased by 6%. The growth businesses in Consumer Lifestyle posted another solid quarter, delivering a double-digit revenue increase. In Lighting, LED-based sales continued to show strong momentum with comparable sales growth of over 50%, which requires us to accelerate the rationalization of our conventional lighting industrial footprint.
 
We continue to experience strong economic headwinds on a global scale, which affect growth going forward. Our Accelerate! program is helping to mitigate some of these pressures, and we have full confidence in our ability to continue improving the operational and financial performance of the company.
 
Frans van Houten,  CEO of Royal Philips Electronics