Philips Electronics, Europe's largest consumer-electronics company, on Tuesday kicked off the European earnings season on a downbeat note, saying it swung to a first-quarter loss as demand for its lighting and consumer products waned.

The company reported first quarter net loss of $78 million (E 59 million) and revenue was down at 5.1 billion euros from 6 billion euros a year earlier.

Sales declined 15 percent to 5.08 billion euros. Comparable sales at the health-care division fell 2 percent to 1.74 billion euros, and sales in Revenue unit down 33 percent to 1.76 billion euros.

It had also reduced its work force by 5,600 in the first quarter due to weak demand in market business and missed analyst expectations.

Analyst polled by Reuters expected a 35million profit, and a 33 million euro loss to 155 million profits a shares showed by 20 individual analysts.

According to Eric de Graaf, an Amsterdam-based analyst at Petercam, “Health care is a disappointment,” he said, “There was some hope that health care would be a little more stable, but that didn’t happen.”

However demand in products in the second quarter will be broadly in line with the first three months, he added.

“While the effects were felt strongly in our activities that cater to the consumer market and to the construction and automotive industries, our healthcare sales are now impacted as well,” Chief Executive Officer Gerard Kleisterlee said in the statement. “We expect no material change to this situation” this quarter, he said.

Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics also expects reconstruction to exceed 500 million euros or ($644 million) this year, as shares rose to 23 cents to 1.39 percent at $16¬.76 in the midday trading.