Dutch electronics maker Philips has promised its core businesses will be back in profit by the end of this year. The company made the prediction as it showed a second successive quarter of net profits.
The firm made 124m euros ($144m; �87m) in the three months to September.
But the performance was improved by contributions from ventures with other companies, after restructuring charges pushed it to an operating loss.
The company put the loss of 126m euros on its core businesses down to the 152m euros it has had to account for in charges on restructuring at the chip unit.
The firm has had a tough time in the technology downturn, and like many of its competitors has concentrated on cutting costs.
Still, the net profits were up from from 42m euros in the previous three months and followed a 330m euro loss the year before.
Sales also performed better than expected at almost 7bn euros, but still marked a slowdown from the 7.3bn recorded in the same period of 2002.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
