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Philips doubles 3Q earnings
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October 21, 1999: 6:16 a.m. ET
Strong telecom sales spur electronics giant to a 154% jump in net profit
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Dutch giant Philips Electronics beat expectations Thursday when it reported a doubling of third-quarter profits from the same period a year ago, helped by strong growth at its telecom unit.
The Eindhoven-based firm said net profits from continuing operations for the three months ending Sept. 30 leapt 154 percent to 374 million euros ($403 million) from 147 million euros a year ago.
The results surprised analysts who had forecast net profits of between 272 million and 349 million euros. Philips stock jumped almost 4 percent to 90.909 euros in Amsterdam Thursday.
The strong performance of the telecom business helped lift the company's consumer products division. Disappointment at the performance of the unit caused the break-up of its telecom joint venture with Lucent Technologies (LU) a year ago, but since then Philips has brought costs at that business under control.
Europe's largest maker of computer chips, electronic consumer products and lighting equipment said it was benefiting from a recovery in economic conditions in both Europe and Asia.
The company was particularly upbeat about the chip market. "Growth in the semiconductor sector is accelerating and should favorably impact margins in the fourth quarter," Philips said in a statement.
Initial reaction from stock analysts was positive. "We had been looking for a string of positive quarters starting with this one. This should be the first in a line of convincing profit and loss sheets," Steven Vrolijk, an analyst at ING Barings in Amsterdam told Reuters. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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Philips
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