Royal Philips Electronics has posted a fourth-quarter loss due to a worse performance by its lighting, health care arms, as well as television business.
The net loss for the October to December period was euro160 million ($211 million), compared with profit of euro465 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 3.3 percent to euro6.79 billion.
Philips' lighting arm had sales growth of 7 percent and energy-saving LED lights now account for 18 percent of the total. EBITA dropped 79 percent to euro41 million, in part due to costs of re-branding recently acquired businesses.
Chief executive Frans van Houten , stated that "Our fourth quarter results were impacted by weak European sales, postponement in deliveries of existing orders in our health care sector, and inventory correction actions...in our Lighting business."
He considered the outlook for 2012 is clouded due to "uncertainty in the global economy, and Europe in particular."