Dutch Philips Electronics missed analysts' forecasts today with a second quarter net profit depressed by price pressure in LCD displays, but sales and operating profit rose faster than expected and it announced a €1.5 billion euro share repurchase plan.
Philips's net profit came in at €301 million, compared with an average forecast of €356 million by leading analysts.
Net profit in the year-ago period was €983 million when one-off gains were higher.
Revenues of the TVs to hospital equipment maker rose faster than expected to €7.6 billion from €7.09 billion a year earlier, and compared with an average analyst forecast of €7.48 billion.
Income from operations came in at €367 million against an average analyst expectation of €333 million and a year-ago profit of €147 million.
The improvement partly reflects the shift of investments to more stable and higher-margin business areas such as lighting, medical systems and domestic appliances, and away from semiconductors and consumer electronics.
Still, the biggest improvement at its five core operations came from the restructured semiconductor unit which will be floated on a stock exchange before the end of the year.
Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker, a top five consumer electronics producer and Europe's number three in semiconductors.