Electronics multinational Philips said yesterday that it planned to keep on 20 of the 150 staff at the Irish back-office operation earmarked for closure earlier this year.

The company said last January that it planned to close the facility in Leopardstown in Dublin, and move it to Lodz in Poland, as part of a restructuring plan to cut the group's costs.

However, yesterday a spokesman said that 20 of the 150 staff set to be laid off as a result of the decision would be kept on. He added that the Leopardstown office would stay open longer than anticipated, as there was a delay with starting up the Polish operation.

Its consumer business, Philips Electronics Ireland Ltd, and a technology operation, Silicon and Software Systems, employ 300 people between them. The move will not hit these divisions.

On the global front, Philips said that its flat-screen technology joint venture helped it move into profit in the three months to the end of March.

The group reported that it had net first-quarter profits of €550 million, compared with a loss of €69 million during the same period last year. Earnings per share were 43 cent.

Its liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture with LG Electronics in South Korea, LG Philips, earned €215 million in profits.

Overall, a group statement said that sales rose 2 per cent on the first quarter of 2003 to over €6.6 billion.

Sales at its consumer electronics division grew 3 per cent to just over €2 billion, while turnover from its semiconductor operations grew 7 per cent to €1.3 billion. However, other businesses did not perform as well, and analysts last night said that turnover was below expectations.

The company generated €404 million cash during the three-month period, compared with a net outflow of €205 million last year.