Philips to make more cuts, but commits to R&D spend

Philips has announced it plans to make an additional €300m of cuts by 2013, on top of the €500m it had already pledged to save in the next two years,

However, the company has committed to spend the €200m annual budget earmarked for research and development plus 'customer-facing resources'.

Quoted in ERT, Philips CEO, Frans van Houten (pictured right), promised 'increased innovation efforts and customer intimacy'.

Philips had already announced plans to cut costs by entering into a joint venture with Chinese manufacturer TPV to produce its TV ranges from 2012 - as we covered here.

The news of fresh cuts comes in a week when Comet has announced a 22 percent fall in year-on-year sales, plus John Lewis has reported disappointing trading figures (though did claim to have increased its market share for CE retail).

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