Philips gearing up for ‘positive’ 2014

Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc. Philippines expects positive growth for the company this year and in 2014, boosted largely by the strong local demand for its lighting solutions.

“This year was a very positive year because we had a lot of innovations coming to the market—although the last part of the year was a challenge for everybody because of the issues and natural disasters. But we can say it was a positive year and we are very happy to see that our campaigns and innovations were very well accepted,” said Philips country manager Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno.

Lighting products were the biggest contributors to the company’s growth, according to Tetteroo-Bueno.

“Because of the energy challenge that the Philippines is going through, [our lighting solutions] are very alive in the market. People recognize the problem with energy and they are going more aggressively into energy-saving lighting solutions,” she said in a briefing Wednesday.

The Philippines reportedly ranks ninth in terms of energy cost, prompting many industries and consumers to turn to energy efficient lighting solutions to cut energy consumption.

“Our fluorescent [products] never sold so well, and LED [products] too. The energy challenge in the Philippines has impacted a lot on this positive growth of the lighting business in the Philippines. It comprises the majority of our business, I’m sure,” Tetteroo-Bueno added.

This is why, according to Tetteroo-Bueno, Philips will be bringing in more LED solutions next year, because “we really believe that the potential in the Philippines is very high. Everybody always talks about the need to have more power plants,” but this can be partly addressed with energy savings.

“We estimate that 40-50 percent of the lights in the country are inefficient. You can reduce 10 percent of the energy use if you just take out these inefficient lights,” she said.

Next year, Philips will also become more aggressive with its controls solutions portfolio, which will allow the consumers and industries to have better control over their energy consumption.

Also expected to boost next year’s growth for Philips are its healthcare solutions as the company moves to bring in a wider range of imaging solutions and to participate more actively in the country’s healthcare programs.

“We believe healthcare next year will have a big contribution,” she added.

Philips’ consumer lifestyle products, meanwhile, has so far contributed the least to the company’s bottom line.

This, however, is a business that Tetteroo-Bueno believes will continue to grow as well “because we are bringing in more personal care solutions such as mom-and-child solutions, shavers for men, among others.” Amy R. Remo