By walking in the aisles of an appliance store, currently open despite the containment measures, the customer will be able to see the Philips brand affixed to many products: televisions, light bulbs, coffee makers, razors ... But many 'between them are not or no longer manufactured by the Dutch giant.
This is the result of a refocusing of which Frans van Houten, the general manager, wrote the final point on Thursday.
Philips has reached an agreement with the investment fund Hillhouse Capital to sell it its small household appliance.
Razors, coffee makers, beer dispensers and other air purifiers will pass under the Chinese flag.
This will not change much in terms of manufacturing, most of these products are already manufactured in Asia.
Read also: Philips unplug its small household appliance
This activity of small household appliances, which employs 7,000 people worldwide, achieved a turnover of 2.3 billion euros in 2019. Its sale is not a surprise: Frans van Houten had announced his intention to sell it. give in from January 2020. And the crisis linked to the global pandemic has had no impact on the schedule, which was announced between twelve and eighteen months.
The Dutch group will obtain a total of 4.4 billion euros with this sale.
The sale price was set at 3.7 billion.
And the Chinese fund has pledged to pay an additional 700 million euros to be able to use the Philips brand for the next 15 years.
Need for capital
This will keep a name familiar to those over 40 years old for a long time to come.
Although the company has been in existence for 130 years, Philips has made a name for itself above all as a brand of large household appliances, dishwashers and refrigerators.
This has not been the case since 1990, when this activity was sold to the American Whirlpool, which gradually removed the Philips name from its products.
History then seriously accelerated with the appointment of Frans van Houten, the current Managing Director, a little over ten years ago.
The leader's idea was to take Philips out of its conglomerate status.
In 2011, the televisions were sold to Chinese TPV.
The lighting activities were separated into two companies, one, Signify, was floated on the stock market in 2016, and the other, Lumileds, sold to the Apollo investment fund the following year.
The sale of small household appliances is therefore the last step in the refocusing of Philips.
Read also: Household appliances: a new energy label comes into force on Monday, March 1
The Eindhoven group will be able to devote the sum obtained to the only activity it now exercises, in medical technologies.
Philips manufactures scanners, MRIs, defibrillators.
A capital intensive activity.
The latest example, last December, when the Dutch group got its hands on BioTelemetry, an American company operating in the remote heart monitoring segment, for 2.3 billion euros.
The results seem to show the success of this strategy.
Last year, the group recorded growth, albeit modest at + 1.9%, in its net income, to 1.2 billion euros.
And the boss plans to increase his turnover in 2021, despite the persistent uncertainties.
Investors are totally convinced: the title has tripled over the past three years.
