Electronics giant Philips on July 13 reported a net profit of 45 million euros in the second quarter of 2009, a drop of 94% compared to the same period last year.
Philips' sales stood at 5.23 billion euros in the second quarter of 2009, down 19% from 6.46 billion euros in the same period last year, due to "continuing weakness in consumer and professional markets," the group said.
"We did not see a material improvement in consumer or professional markets in the past three months," said chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee. But he added: "During the quarter we started to see the positive impact of our strict cost management on our results."
Philips announced in January that it would cut 6,000 jobs worldwide to cope with the global slowdown. A company spokesman said all divisions would be affected by the job cuts.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
