Dutch group Philips, which has transformed itself away from some of its traditional businesses, reported an almost three-fold surge in third-quarter net profit today.

The company also announced that later in the day it would begin to buy back its own shares under a programme totalling 1.5 billion euros ($2.0 billion).

Philips has experienced great difficulties in recent years and has responded with a restructuring which has involved reducing and refocusing its lighting, and phasing out its television businesses.

Chief Executive Frans van Houten said in a statement “this was another solid quarter for Philips, especially in light of the challenging global economic environment.”

The Eindhoven-based company specifically is a market leader in LED lighting technology. This business grew by 33 per cent and now accounted for 30 per cent of its lighting sales.

Philips announced that it had been selected by Dubai’s municipality to install environmentally-friendly LED lighting systems, which it said would lead to a 50 per cent saving in energy.

In New Zealand, the company was installing a similar energy-efficient LED system in a brand of local fuel filling stations.

The group has diversified into medical equipment and healthcare which offer higher margins.

A highlight included a deal in with Singapore’s largest health and beauty chain to screen citizens across the Asian country for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

OSA is a sleeping disorder which causes breathing to stop for short periods at night and can lead to severe drowsiness during the day, among other symptoms.

The group’s traditional household appliances activities had come under strong pressure from competitors, notably in Asia.

However, the latest results showed that the part of the business which grew the fastest was the household appliance division where sales on a comparable basis surged by 9.0 per cent, and mainly in emerging markets where sales rose by 10.0 per cent.

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