AMSTERDAM: Electrical equipment maker Philips on Monday said the US Department of Health had cancelled the bulk of an order for 43,000 hospital ventilators, leading it to cut its 2020 earnings outlook.
Philips was one of several companies contracted by the US to supply more than 187,000 ventilators to the strategic national stockpile to help treat patients during the coronavirus pandemic. Orders for ventilators and other medical equipment resulting from the Covid-19 outbreak had been expected to lift Philips’ performance in 2020.
Philips had said in July that the surge in orders for medical equipment would enable it to achieve an “adjusted EBITA margin improvement” this year.