PHILIPS REPORTS 75% RISE IN NET PROFITS IN FIRST QUARTER 1998.

Dutch electronics giant Philips announced on April 22 that it had made net profits of 1.561 billion Guilders (USD772.7 million) in the first quarter of 1998, up 75% on the 887 million Guilder profit recorded for the first quarter of 1997. Before extraordinary items, net profit works out at 716 million Guilders (USD354.4 million), compared with 460 million Guilders in the first three months of 1997. For 1998 as a whole, the group's management is banking on "double-digit growth in profit". Over the first three months of 1998, Philips' sales turnover reached 17.836 billion...