Philips to Move Out of Front Projector Business

Eindhoven, April, 2004 - Royal Philips Electronics today announced its decision to stop its front projector business. As a consequence, Philips will cease to be an independent manufacturer of front projectors.

Philips has decided to focus its resources on display technologies in which it has a leading position, such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), Plasma and LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon), a rear projection technology. Philips is a global leader in flat TVs (LCD and plasma) and also sees potential in LCOS rear projection, which offers a large screen high definition picture quality with a small footprint.

Whilst the market for front projectors is growing in both the business to business- and consumer segments, a rapid consolidation in the industry is taking place. It would take considerable investments to continue as a fully integrated and global supplier and achieve a leading market position. Since Philips is not a supplier of the key display technologies for front projection, it has been decided to discontinue the development and manufacturing of front projectors.

The decision to exit the front projection business affects a total of approximately 270 jobs at the central offices and development centre in Eindhoven, the product introduction and production in Vienna, Austria, and the regional sales organizations.

It is the intention to stop production in the third quarter of this year. Philips will fulfil all its obligations to customers and continue to support them in the most appropriate way. In February of this year, Philips announced its withdrawal from the front projection business in the United States, where the market is predominantly in the business to business segment.

Philips is in consultation with the workers' representatives on the employment consequences of the restructuring.

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 29 billion in 2003. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its 164,500 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter