AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Shares of Dutch health technology company Philips dropped 4% on Monday as strong quarterly earnings and an upgraded outlook for 2023 could not offset worries about a continuing fall in new orders.
Philips' core profit more than doubled to 457 million euros ($483.3 million) in the third quarter, while comparable sales were up 11% at 4.5 billion euros as demand for its medical scanners, patient monitoring equipment and personal health devices increased.
Both metrics easily beat the average estimate of analysts, who predicted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of 389 million euros, on 8% comparable sales growth.
New orders, however, were down 9% from last year, as demand from China continued to cool from a pre-pandemic boom and supply chain problems persisted.
Philips in July guided for an improvement in orders in the second half of the year.
CEO Roy Jakobs on Monday said this guidance had been distorted by new government regulations that have since been introduced for the Chinese health care market.
"This regulation was not yet announced then, that has been a big distorting factor in the third quarter," Jakobs said in a phone interview with Reuters.
"Still we are working hard to improve order intake and we want to see the benefits in the fourth quarter."
