Philips achieves growth during first quarter of 2016

Philips has hailed its solid comparable sales growth performance during the first quarter of 2016, during which it delivered a three-month sales total of 5.5 billion euros (4.26 billion pounds).

This represented a year-on-year increase of three percent, with its adjusted earnings rising by 14 percent to 374 million euros during the same period. The successful launch of several new products helped to drive this improvement.

Its HealthTech portfolio was one of its strongest-performing units, with comparable sales growth of five percent, thanks to the launch of its Dream Family solution, image-guided therapy business and encouraging oral healthcare performance.

The firm also continued to explore its options for the potential sale of its lighting business, which comes as part of a move to adjust the focus of its organisation.

Additionally, Philips was able to achieve a number of cost savings during the quarter, which helped it to account for challenging macroeconomic conditions in several markets.

Frans van Houten, chief executive officer of Philips, said: "Our outlook for 2016 remains unchanged, as we continue to expect earnings improvements in the year to be back-end-loaded, taking into account ongoing macroeconomic headwinds and the phasing of costs and sales."