Philips’ net profit jumps to £535.61 million in the fourth quarter

In an announcement on Monday, Koninklijke Philips NV (AMS: PHIA) said its net profit in the fiscal fourth quarter came in better than last year but weaker than what experts had forecast. The Dutch firm reiterated its full-year guidance on Monday.

Philips jumped roughly 1.5% up in premarket trading on Monday and gained another 1.25% on market open. Including the price action, the stock is now trading at £41.60 per share. In comparison, it had tumbled to as low as £26.26 per share in March 2020 when the COVID-19 crisis wreaked havoc on businesses from across the globe. The price action should come in handy if you want to invest in the stock market.

Philips reports £5.33 billion of quarterly sales

Philips said on Monday that its net profit printed at £535.61 million in the fourth quarter. In comparison, its net profit was capped at a lower £493.86 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts, on the other hand, had forecast an even higher £564.92 million of net profit for Philip in Q4.

In the prior quarter (Q3), Philips had noted £307 million of net profit as per the report published in October.

In terms of quarterly sales, the multinational conglomerate reported £5.33 billion in the recent quarter versus the year-ago figure of £5.29 billion. Experts had expected Philips to post a lower £5.25 billion of quarterly sales. The Amsterdam-headquartered company also said on Monday that its comparable sales saw a 7% annualised growth and recorded ahead of consensus estimates in Q4.

Philips declares 75.50 pence of per-share dividend

Other prominent figures in Philips’ quarterly update on Monday include EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, amortisation) margin that stood at 19% as compared to a lower 17.9% last year. For fiscal 2021, the Dutch company expects comparable sales to register an under 5% year over year growth.

Philips expects an up to 80 basis points of improvement in its adjusted EBITA margin this year. The company’s board declared 75.50 pence of per-share dividend on Monday. Philips is currently exploring options to offload its home appliance unit – a move that is likely to fetch a minimum of £2.66 billion.

Philips NV closed flat on average in the stock market last year. At the time of writing, the Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation has a market cap of £38 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 37.80.