Netherlands-based Royal Philips reported sales growth in its healthcare segment as equipment sales rose and leaders continued to focus on forming strategic partnerships with healthcare providers. However, the company overall suffered a loss.
Comparable healthcare sales grew 3% in the fourth quarter to €3.3 billion, or about $3.6 billion. Excluding the effect of currency, orders were up 15%, driven by double-digit growth in the company's imaging and healthcare informatics businesses, according to the company.
Orders in Philips' patient-care and monitoring business were in line with the year before. Throughout the healthcare segment, Philips reported double-digit growth in North America, Western Europe and China.
Philips reported €374 million, or $405.9 million, in income from healthcare operations in the fourth quarter, up 7% from the year before.
As a whole, Philips reported €7.1 billion, or $7.7 billion, in sales across its businesses, up 2%. The company suffered a net loss of €39 million, or about $42.4 million, because of losses in the company's lighting and innovation businesses, the latter which includes a handheld concussion test under development.
Over the past few years, the company has made it a priority to engage in multi-year strategic partnerships with providers for managed equipment services. Philips inked three international deals in Canada, Spain and France in the fourth quarter, and signed a similar deal on Jan. 12 with Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif.
The deal with Marin General, the company's first partnership with a community hospital, was worth $90 million and will last 15 years. The company also entered into a 15-year, $500 million contract last year with Westchester Medical Center Health Network in Valhalla, N.Y., and a 15-year, $300 million agreement with Georgia Regents Medical Center in 2013.
Philips, like other healthcare equipment manufacturers, has also made recent investments in expanding its consulting business. The company launched a radiology practice-management consultancy in December and acquired an Orlando-based emergency department consulting provider in October.
All of these advancements come after the company appointed its first-ever companywide chief medical officer in October.
