Philips reports improvement in profitability 

AMSTERDAM – Philips reported group sales of EUR 4.4 billion, with flat comparable growth, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.8%, up 160 basis points, for the third quarter of 2024. 

In the Connected Care business, the company reported comparable sales were flat, with growth in Enterprise Informatics and Sleep & Respiratory Care offset by a low-, single-digit decline in Monitoring, on the back of high-teens growth in the same period last year. 

“Strong improvement in profitability was driven by progress on our execution priorities, productivity measures and the improved margins of our AI-driven, industry-leading innovations,” said CEO Roy Jakobs. “Within a challenging macro environment, we remain focused on successfully executing our three-year plan to fully capture growth and margin expansion opportunities. With patient safety as our No. 1 priority, we are committed to delivering better care for more people.” 

Other Q3 highlights: 

• Income from operations was EUR 337 million 
• Operating cashflow was EUR 192 million, with a free cashflow of EUR 22 million 
• Comparable order intake decreased by 2% 

Philips has updated its guidance for full-year 2024 to reflect deteriorated demand in China. It now expects comparable sales growth within an updated range of 0.5%-1.5%; adjusted EBITA margin at around 11.5%, the upper end of the current range; and free cashflow at around EUR 0.9 billion, at the lower end of the current range. 

“The outlook excludes the potential impact of the ongoing Philips Respironics-related legal proceedings, including the investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice,” the company stated. 

• Related: In the second quarter of this year, Philips reported group sales of EUR 4.5 billion, with comparable growth of 2%.