Dutch health technology company Philips will scrap another 6,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to restore its profitability and improve the safety of its products following a recall of respiratory devices that knocked off 70pc of its market value.
alf of the job cuts will be made this year, the company said on Monday, adding that the other half will be realised by 2025.
The new reorganisation brings the total amount of job cuts announced by new Chief Executive Roy Jakobs in recent months to 10,000, or around 13pc of Philips’ current workforce.
It also adds to the string of technology-based firms to make layoffs, after companies including Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft, Amazon and German software maker SAP announced thousands of layoffs to cut costs as they brace for tougher economic conditions.
Philips shares traded up 5.5pc at 08:55, helped by fourth-quarter earnings which were much better than expected.
“There is a significant beat on Q4 and the operational improvement measures are very large,” ING analyst Marc Hesselink said in a note.
Jakobs took over the reins of the company last October, as Philips continued to grapple with the fallout from the recall of millions of ventilators used to treat sleep apnoea over worries that foam used in the machines could become toxic.
“What we present today I think is a very strong plan to secure the future of Philips. The challenges we have are serious and we are addressing them head on,” Jakobs told reporters.
Jakobs said patient safety would be put “squarely at the centre” of the new organization.
To improve profitability while investing in safety, innovations will be targeted at “fewer, better resourced, and more impactful projects”, Jakobs said.
Together this should lead to a low-teens profit margin, as measured by adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA), by 2025, and a mid-to-high-teens margin beyond that year, with mid-single-digit comparable sales growth throughout.
Amsterdam-based Philips remained cautious in its outlook for the year despite fourth-quarter results that were significantly better than expected.
Adjusted EBITA in the last three months of 2022 came in at €651m, nearly stable from €647m a year before, while analysts in a company-compiled poll on average had predicted it would drop to €428m.
Comparable sales edged up 3pc, instead of the 5pc plunge analysts had predicted, as ongoing supply chain problems eased.
But despite the improvement in the shortage of components that has troubled Philips for over a year, Philips said the supply chain remained challenging and would only further improve gradually.
This was expected to lead to low-single-digit comparable sales growth on a high-single-digit margin in 2023, it said.
The outlook excludes the impact of ongoing discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice on a settlement following the recall, and of ongoing litigation and investigations.
