Philips sees at least six percent sales growth: chief executive

Philips expects its annual sales to return to growth rates of 6 percent or more after the global economic crisis, the Dutch company's chief executive told a German magazine.
"We bought a whole series of companies that strengthen our core businesses. It is entirely due to the global economic crisis that that has not yet had an impact on sales growth in 2009," Gerard Kleisterlee told Der Spiegel in an interview published on Sunday.
Last month, Kleisterlee told Belgian newspaper De Tijd he expected to close 2009 with a net profit, while revenue is expected to be down compared with last year.
Philips has said it foresees sales at its consumer lifestyle unit to continue to improve quarter-on-quarter, expecting fourth-quarter sales at the unit of about 2.8 billion euros.