By James Wells
SYDNEY: Philips Consumer Lifestyle general manager Matt Moran today was unsure of his own future as he confirmed that the majority of the redundancies from his sales team will be effective from 31 December.
Moran and Consumer Lifestyle CEO Harry Van Dyk confirmed that Philips staff would remain with the business until the end of the year to process the final orders for the TV business.
“The majority of the redundancies will be effective from 31 December,” Moran said.
“Our sales team will be around until the end of the year to work with our retail partners and assist with sell through. Our last shipment should be arriving in October and we will be phasing that out across the fourth quarter.
“The service team will be in place throughout 2009 and interstate technical managers will remain in the same locations.”
Moran is currently exploring options within the Philips business, but will remain as general manager during the brand’s departure from the television market.
Van Dyk confirmed that the business will retain its state offices as the Consumer Lifestyle division does not represent the largest division of the company in Australia.
“Healthcare is our biggest business by quite some margin representing over 50 per cent of the turnover from the subsidiary,” Van Dyk said.
The local subsidiary is also a major player in the LED lighting market which has been boosted by a recent government decision to ban old forms of incandescent lighting.
“While TV was a significant part of the Consumer Lifestyle business, it has less effect on us than other companies in our category as a proportion of overall sales,” Van Dyk said.