Philips Separation of Lighting Business to Cost $200-$300M Euros

Philips, which predicts to complete the separation of the lighting business in the first half of 2016, said Monday it now expects the move to cost 200 million to 300 million euros in 2015 and the same amount in 2016. The company previously predicted the separation costs would amount to 300 to 400 million in 2015, without giving an estimate for 2016.

Royal Philips NV reported booming demand for its North American medical business, lending support for Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten’s plan to split the company in two to focus on the consumer health-care market.

The stock surged as much as 5.4 percent after the Dutch company reported better-than-estimated second-quarter earnings, on demand from hospitals for clinical data-analysis equipment and rising sales of imaging systems. In North America, where Philips generates more than one third of its business, sales rose 3 percent.

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27 Jul