Defibrillators

The FDA had issued a warning letter to Guidant on December 22, 2005, after an inspection revealed deficiencies in its quality control systems.

The plant was re-inspected between November 9 and December 7 by the FDA, and found to be in compliance, the company said.

"We are very pleased with the FDA's conclusion," said Jim Tobin, chief executive officer of Boston Scientific.

"This achievement is the result of a lot of hard work by employees across our CRM organization." "The improvements made to our CRM quality system demonstrate our ongoing commitment to deliver the highest quality products to physicians and the patients they serve," Tobin added.

Guidant ICD sales have been under heavy pressure over the last two years due to a string of high-profile recalls, with an additional one issued last week.

No deaths or injuries were reported with the last recall, which involved batteries running out prematurely in some of the devices.

ICDs are defibrillator devices that are implanted in the chest to help regulate irregular heartbeat, which can sometimes lead to sudden death.

Medtronic Inc.

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Comparable sales rose 3%.

Equipment order intake showed a small decline, which Philips said was due to a softening of the North American market for imaging equipment.

Citigroup analysts said the operating results were significantly below its 123-million-euro forecast.

Nomura analysts said investors may fret about the possibility of weaker trading conditions at the division.

Philips recently completed, at a cost of 1 billion euros, the acquisition of Intermagnetics General Corp., a manufacturer of superconducting magnets for MRI systems.

It said the quarter included about 30 million euros in acquisition-related costs.

Philips' consumer-electronics unit, which makes DVD players and portable music players, quarterly operating profit rose to 34 from 33 million euros.

Sales, however, slipped 9% to 2.2 billion euros, on weak demand for flat-screen TVs and computer monitors.

In the year-ago quarter, the division benefited from strong demand for large flat-screen TVs ahead of the world cup tournament.

At its domestic appliances and personal-care division (DAP), which makes shavers, electric toothbrushes and coffee machines, operating profit almost doubled to 107 million euros from 55 million euros.

Sales jumped 23% to 608 million euros, driven by strong demand for oral-health products and kitchen appliances.

Despite the strong results at the divisio...

The company had been expected to report first-quarter Ebita of 302.7 million euros in the period, according to the survey.

The company made ``strong progress'' in the quarter toward meeting its targets of between 5 and 6 percent average annual sales growth and Ebita of above 7.5 percent of sales, according to today's statement.

`Feels Good' Philips said last month it plans to have sold its entire stake in Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's largest maker of custom-made chips, by 2010 after last year's sale of a majority stake in its chip unit to a group of buyout firms.

First-quarter sales at consumer electronics, the largest division by revenue, fell 8.9 percent to 2.21 billion euros as the soccer Word Cup spurred revenue in the year-earlier period.

Earnings before interest, tax and amortization as a percentage of sales rose to 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent a year earlier.

The company repeated a goal for profitability of about 3 percent this year for the division.

The company, Europe's biggest maker of televisions, in January forecast a ``challenging'' first quarter for the unit as prices of flat-panel televisions decline...