The Dutch company based on health technology reported a better-than-expected 6% rise in comparable sales for the second quarter on Monday.

This rise was mainly helped by the very strong demand for its hospital equipment in both China and the United States.

Remarkably, the company also managed to stay on course with its forecast of consistent growth throughout the year, reporting an 8% increase in new orders for products.

Being among the top gainers of the STOXX Europe 600, a stock index of European stocks designed by STOXX Ltd, Philips experienced a rise of 3.5% in early trading in Amsterdam.

Current Philips Chief Executive, Frans van Houten, who has been in the position since early 2011, told reports that “We saw growth in all our segments in the second quarter and we expect that to continue.”

Speaking about the numerous amounts of sales in China and the United States in recent months, Mr van Houten added that “We had strong traction in emerging markets among them China, and that is set to continue.” He also remained optimistic of future opportunities, claiming that “we expect mature markets to come in stronger in the second half of the year.”

Philips shifted its focus from consumer electronics, to healthcare technology and lighting in recent years.

The company added that the ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China were the main source of concern for the company, with both the end products and the components used to assemble such products being affected by new tariffs introduced throughout the last year.

Speaking about the tariffs, Mr van Houten stated that “The main cloud hanging over us is the possible fourth batch of tariffs. If that would happen, it would increase the amount by which our earnings are hit by €20 million this year, but nobody knows whether it will happen.”

With the current batch of tariffs, Philips is expecting tariffs to take away €45 million from its 2019 core earnings.

The company experienced a considerable amount of sales growth in the second quarter, with analysts recruited by the company itself saying that it has grown by 4.5%, whilst it only grew by 4% in the same period last year.

The total amount of sales in the April to June period increased to a staggering €4.67 billion, more than meeting expectations.

The 128-year-old company has grown massively ever since shifting its focus to healthcare and lighting, employing 77,400 workers as of 2018.