Philips closed the first quarter of 2013 with a 12% drop in net profit over the previous year, to 162 million euros, and thus confirmed that it expects a still weak first half of the year.
"We confirm our forecasts that the first half of the year will be slow, due to the trend of difficult markets, especially in Europe and the USA" said the CEO of the group, Frans van Houten, who nonetheless underlined the commitment of the Dutch group to reach the financial targets for 2013 and the transformation into a group focused less on electronics and more on health and well-being.
