Fourth-quarter highlights
- Sales amounted to EUR 5.6 billion, with 5% comparable sales growth
- Comparable order intake for the quarter increased 10%
- Income from continuing operations increased to EUR 723 million, compared to EUR 476 million in Q4 2017
- Adjusted EBITA margin improved by 70 basis points, despite a 40 basis points adverse currency effect, to 17.4% of sales, compared to 16.7% of sales in Q4 2017
- Income from operations increased to EUR 769 million, compared to EUR 723 million in Q4 2017
- Operating cash flow increased to EUR 1,293 million, compared to EUR 1,202 million in Q4 2017; free cash flow increased to EUR 1,019 million, compared to EUR 948 million in Q4 2017
Full-year highlights
- Sales increased to EUR 18.1 billion, with 5% comparable sales growth
- Comparable order intake increased 10% year-on-year
- Income from continuing operations increased to EUR 1,310 million, compared to EUR 1,028 million in 2017
- Adjusted EBITA margin improved by 100 basis points to 13.1% of sales, compared to 12.1% of sales in 2017
- Income from operations amounted to EUR 1,719 million, compared to EUR 1,517 million in 2017
- Operating cash flow totaled EUR 1.8 billion, compared to EUR 1.9 billion in 2017; free cash flow amounted to EUR 984 million, including a EUR 176 million outflow related to pension liability de-risking and an early bond redemption, compared to EUR 1,185 million in 2017
- Proposal to increase dividend by 6% to EUR 0.85 per share; start of new EUR 1.5 billion share buyback program
Frans van Houten, CEO
“We continued to make progress during the year and delivered 5% comparable sales growth in the fourth quarter, with good mid-single-digit growth in our Diagnosis & Treatment businesses, low-single-digit growth in our Personal Health businesses in line with our expectations for this year, and higher IP royalties. I am encouraged by the comparable order intake growth in the Connected Care & Health Informatics businesses, which drove the 10% comparable order intake growth for the Group. The Adjusted EBITA margin improved by 70 basis points, despite a 40 basis points adverse currency effect.
For the full year, we delivered on our targets, with 5% comparable sales growth, 100 basis points improvement in the Adjusted EBITA margin, and a free cash flow of EUR 1.2 billion, excluding payments related to the US Pension Fund liability de-risking and premium payments related to an early bond redemption. We saw rising demand for our innovative product and solutions portfolio, resulting in 10% comparable order intake growth for the year, with good growth across the world.
Our continued focus on innovation combined with our growing order book provide a solid base to further strengthen our leadership position as a focused health technology company. This confidence enables us to propose a 6% dividend increase to EUR 0.85 per share and to announce a new EUR 1.5 billion share buyback program.
As Philips continues to navigate global geopolitical challenges and market volatility, for which we are taking necessary actions, we expect our performance momentum to improve in the course of the year. We reaffirm our overall targets of 4-6% comparable sales growth and an Adjusted EBITA margin improvement of 100 basis points on average per year for the 2017–2020 period.”