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| - Dutch electronics giant Philips announced Monday net profits plunged in the first quarter due to the coronavirus outbreak but pinned its hopes on an explosion of orders for medical equipment to boost its coffers. Amsterdam-based Philips, which has abandoned its home appliance arm in order to focus on the health sector, said its net profit sunk by 75.93 percent year-on-year to 39 million euros ($42 million) -- a result it said had been considerably impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic. The pressing demand for ventilators and other medical equipment around the world to fight the coronavirus epidemic saw the group's orders jump by 23 percent on a comparative basis, it said. Philips said it was now focused on the production of ventilators to help COVID-19 patients breathe, in particular in the United States where the Dutch company has several factories. While the firm expects a boost to its medical equipment business, Philips said the pandemic has led to a "sharp drop" in income in its personal health branch and a "significant" drop in its diagnosis and treatment division. "COVID-19 significantly affected our results in this quarter," chief executive Frans van Houten said, adding that the firm was investing more than 100 million euros to speed up production volumes. He added that Philips expects "to achieve a modest comparable sales growth" for 2020 overall, but did not provide more details. Unlike many other companies hit by the crisis, Philips announced it would not put its dividend payment on ice but proposed a payment of 0.85 euros per share. The payout would be in shares only, as opposed to giving shareholders a choice between shares and cash. Shareholders welcomed the announcement and Philips' share price bounced 5.3 percent to just under 40 euros in lunchtime trade on the Amsterdam stock exchange's blue-chip AEX index. Philips, which started off as a lighting company more than 100 years ago has over the years undergone a metamorphosis. It first divested its lighting division before announcing in January it was selling off its home appliance arm to fully concentrate on its health sector products. cvo/jhe/rl
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