E-Business
Philips Sales, Operational Revenues Hit EUR 6.036 in 3Q2014

Philips has reported third quarter 2014 sales of EUR 5.5 billion and operational results of EUR 536 million, a comparable sales growth flat, with sales in growth geographies up 2%.
The Company said that EBITA, excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and other items, amounted to EUR 536 million, or 9.7% of sales, compared to 11.4% in Q3 2013
EBITA amounted to a loss of EUR 7 million, primarily impacted by charges related to IP litigation and the voluntary production suspension at the Cleveland facility.
Net loss of EUR 103 million, compared to net income of EUR 281 million in Q3 2013.
Currencies negatively impacted sales by 1.7% and EBITA by 0.9 percentage points of sales.
Free cash flow of EUR 166 million, compared to EUR 122 million in Q3 2013, while it has started the process of creating two market-leading companies focused to capitalize on the HealthTech and Lighting solutions opportunities
Frans van Houten, chief executive officer of the Company, said that, “The successful execution of our Accelerate! program continues to improve operational performance in most of our businesses. We are very excited by the vast opportunities in the HealthTech and Lighting solutions markets that we will capitalize on with the creation of two dedicated market-leading companies.
“As we manage through a challenging 2014 and given a number of incidentals, we are not satisfied with our overall performance in the third quarter. We are facing sustained softness in a number of markets such as China and Russia. We were also confronted by an adverse jury verdict with a surprisingly high proposed award in the Masimo litigation, which we will appeal. On a positive note, production at our Cleveland facility is ramping up.
In Healthcare, he said, Philips was delighted to win four multi-year strategic contracts, thereby demonstrating that its integrated solutions are gaining momentum despite a very slow market.
“In Consumer Lifestyle, our focus on health and wellness products is yielding good results, as demonstrated by the solid performance of Oral Healthcare and Mother & Child Care, despite challenging conditions in some of our bigger markets. In Lighting, we improved the performance of Consumer Luminaires in Europe and achieved double-digit growth and market share gains in Lumileds, which helped to balance the decline in conventional lighting.
“As a few of the near-term headwinds start to abate and our Accelerate! program continues to improve our operational performance, we expect our adjusted EBITA in the second half of 2014 to be slightly below the adjusted EBITA in the same period last year and we remain committed to our 2016 financial targets.”
Reviewing the Q3 financial and operational, in Healthcare, he said, “We are making good progress in the remediation of the quality management system at our Cleveland facility. We have now also resumed production of the iCT and Ingenuity scanners, and production ramp-up will continue through the first quarter of 2015. This will contribute to improved performance in the fourth quarter and into 2015.
“More broadly, we are seeing good traction with our programs that address government and health system goals of improving population health and delivering quality care more effectively.
“This is illustrated by our new 15-year contract with the Reinier de Graaf hospital in the Netherlands, the 14-year contract with the Karolinska University Hospital and the Stockholm County Council, and the 10-year contract related to the 700-bed Philippine Orthopedic Centre in the Philippines, where our systems and consultancy will help improve operational performance.”
Healthcare comparable sales grew by 1% year-on-year.
The EBITA margin, excluding restructuring costs and various charges, was 12%, a decrease of 2.6 percentage points year-on-year. Currency-comparable equipment order intake declined by 1%.
On Consumer Lifestyle, Houten said, “In Consumer Lifestyle, we are continuing to expand our offering to help consumers make healthier choices every day and drive value from the ‘Internet of Things’. In the third quarter, we introduced a number of digital cloudconnected solutions, including an application to manage chronic pain treatment and an oral healthcare application that helps children to brush their teeth more effectively.
“Consumer Lifestyle comparable sales increased by 5%, with mid-single-digit growth in Health & Wellness and Domestic Appliances and low-single-digit growth in Personal Care. The EBITA margin, excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges and other items, was 10.6%, compared with 11.1% in the same period last year. The margin decline was attributable to country and product mix”.
The company also launched a series of exciting new products.
On Lighting, the CEO added, “In Lighting, we are solving customer needs with exciting energy-efficient LED solutions, and our breakthrough range of Hue Beyond connected luminaires illustrates how well-positioned we are to drive profitable growth through leading LED innovations, connected ecosystems and professional systems and services. We saw encouraging wins, including a partnership in Indonesia to install LED lighting solutions in nearly 1,000 convenience stores and a contract to deliver LED pitch lighting for Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium in London.”
Lighting comparable sales declined 1% year-on-year. LED-based sales grew by 28%, offset by a decline of 14% in overall conventional lighting sales, among other overviews released on the company’s website.
E-Business
Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.
The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.
In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.
Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.
E-Business
Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.
China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.
The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.
“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.
It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.
Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.
Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.
Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.
A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.
“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.
Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.
Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.
It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.
Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.
E-Business
NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.
According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.
NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”
The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.
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