Reporting nine-month figures () Philips Electronics NV says it expecte its full year 1995 net profit from normal business operations to show a substantial improvement over 1994. We expect the rate of sales growth and the operating margins achieved in the first nine months to be maintained in the remainder of the year, it said. But the figures were not enough better than expected to prevent the shares slumping soon after the market opened and the Philips price opened at 63.10 guilders, 5.20 down on its previous close. The company said borrowing rose in the first nine months as the group continued to invest heavily in future growth. In the nine months period we’ve invested a gross amount in fixed assets of about $2,575m and a further $2,700m in working capital, finance director Dudley Eustace said. Clearly, this level of investment has not been covered by funds generated by the business and net borrowings were increased by $2,060m. We thus had a debt to equity ratio of 38 to 62, which is the same as the same time last year, he said. Needless to day, chips led the way for Philips, with operating profit at the components and semiconductors unit rising to $1,093m from $759m in the same period of 1994. As far as the semiconductors industry is concerned, that continues to remain very, very strong. The book-to-bill ratio in Europe on semiconductors is 1.13 and in North America it is 1.05, Eustace declared.Apart from the consumer electronics division, which saw nine-month profit slide 30% to $146m, other Philips units were performing well. Lighting is a strong business, our professional systems – if you look at medical and industrial electronics – are also performing very well. I wouldn’t say that the whole business is dependent on chips, he declared.
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