Consumer electronics group Philips plunged to its biggest net loss last year due to hefty one-off charges and said today it saw no short-term economic recovery.
Philips' key semiconductor unit, Europe's third-biggest, turned in a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of €140 million on sales of €1.01 billion. Its components business, which will be folded largely into the chips unit, was also in the red.
"The semiconductors and components divisions were below expectations, showing that technology markets remain weak," said analyst Mr Jan Willem Berghuis at Kempen & Co in Amsterdam.
"The rest of the divisions did slightly better than expected, so all in all the full results were more or less in line," he added.
Profit from operations in 2002 came in at the high end of expectations at €420 million - against forecasts by analysts of an average €334 million.
In 2001 the Dutch group posted an operating loss of €1.40 billion.