Philips’ Third Quarter Results 2008

Philips reports net income of EUR 357 million. Sales of EUR 6.3 billion

* Healthcare and Lighting maintained solid growth in much tougher markets, with sales up 5% and 6% respectively on a comparable basis.
* Sales at Consumer Lifestyle declined by EUR 600 million, of which more than half was attributable to the implementation of the new TV strategy.
* Net income amounted to EUR 357 million, including a EUR 302 million gain on the sale of the remaining stake in TSMC.
* EBITA of EUR 128 million was negatively impacted by net incidental charges totaling EUR 285 million, notably a charge for the final settlement of an asbestos liability.
* Repurchases under the current share buy-back program reached almost EUR 3 billion by the end of Q3.

Gerard Kleisterlee, President and CEO of Royal Philips Electronics:

“While Philips too cannot isolate itself from increasingly adverse economic circumstances, it is encouraging to see that the portfolio we have built over the past few years does indeed show the resilience we expected from it.

I am particularly delighted that Consumer Lifestyle, the sector most prone to swings in consumer demand, was able to improve its EBITA margin excluding restructuring to 5.9% of sales as a result of the sector’s relentless focus on profitability – accepting that strategic and portfolio management decisions may negatively impact short-term top-line growth.

Some of our Healthcare and Lighting businesses were also impacted by lower demand, but I am pleased we continued to grow in key businesses such as Patient Monitoring, Clinical Care Systems, Home Healthcare Solutions and of course in Green lighting solutions and Solid State Lighting. While neither of these sectors is immune to economic turmoil, I feel confident both will hold up well during this period.

I am also encouraged by the highly positive results of our 2008 Employee Engagement Survey, which put us practically on par with the high-performance benchmark, as a strong, highly motivated workforce is a particular precondition for success.

Given the limited visibility the current economic environment brings, we have taken a number of actions to safeguard profitability. We will rigidly manage cost and prices, further shift investments towards emerging markets and clear growth areas, and accelerate the ongoing optimization programs in all sectors.

These actions, executed by a highly engaged workforce and coupled with our strong financial position, allow us to continue to execute our agenda towards achieving our Vision for 2010 with specific focus on our target to more than double EBITA per share.”