Philips is again setting aside hundreds of millions of euros to deal with the damage caused by the faulty apnea and ventilator equipment.
At the presentation of the figures for the first quarter of this year, the company reports that it has reserved 575 million euros for a possible claim for damages related to the recall of sleep apnea devices in the United States. Patients prepare a mass claim there. Earlier, the company already released about a billion euros for the recall itself.
Loss
The costs weigh heavily on Philips’ financial results. A loss of 583 million euros was incurred in the first three months, while more was sold; turnover rose to 4.1 billion. A year earlier, turnover amounted to 3.9 billion euros.
Various procedures regarding apnea and ventilators are still ongoing; estimates of the ultimate damage vary from five to ten billion euros in fines, damages and settlements, among other things.
To save costs, Philips announced a round of layoffs of 6,000 jobs worldwide at the beginning of this year, after the company cut 4,000 jobs a few months earlier. At the end of last year, 77,000 people worked at Philips.
- Philips again recalls apnea devices in the US and France
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