Philips CEO says Lumileds division performance to improve in second half

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The performance of Philips' (PHG.AS) up-for-sale Lumileds lighting components division is expected to improve in the second part of 2016, CEO Frans van Houten said on Monday.

In January, the U.S. government blocked Philips' plan to sell an 80 percent stake in Lumileds to Chinese investors for $2.7 billion (1.8 billion pounds) citing unspecified national security concerns.

The unit's performance has worsened steadily over the past year and on Monday Philips said Lumileds had made a first-quarter EBITA loss of 1 million euros versus a profit of 33 million a year earlier.

Van Houten reiterated that the company still expects to find a buyer for Lumileds, which makes LED components and lighting components for cars, in the second half of 2016.

He has conceded a new buyer may not be willing to pay as much for the unit, which had 2015 sales of around 2 billion euros (1.5 billion pounds).

Lumileds appears under discontinued operations in Philips' quarterly earnings report.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Jason Neely)