Royal Philips earnings fall short amid Brexit fear
CEO Frans van Houten plans to redesign some of supply chains and create regional manufacturing hubs
Amsterdam — Royal Philips shares fell the most in seven years after missing earnings expectations and warning trade wars and Brexit will weigh on its business. The Dutch health-technology company’s profit and sales growth missed estimates, with the shortfall most notably at the personal-health unit that makes products such as electric toothbrushes, shavers and equipment to help with sleep and respiratory disorders. The results sent the stock down as much as 9.9% on Monday, the biggest intraday drop since June 2011. CEO Frans van Houten acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg TV that he would have liked the earnings “to be stronger”. Adjustments, he said, would have to be made to prices in some emerging markets such as Argentina and Turkey, where local currencies have weakened considerably, and to the company’s manufacturing footprint due to tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by the US and China. The impact of the trade war could shave €60m from profit next year, he said. Trade war “We ...
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