AMSTERDAM (Bloomberg) - Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's biggest consumer-electronics maker, reported a quarterly profit, defying analysts' expectations of a loss, and said second-half sales may increase from the first six months.

Net income fell to 44 million euros ($61.24 million), or five cents a share, from 732 million euros, or 72 cents, a year earlier, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts had predicted a loss of 122.5 million euros, the average of 13 estimates compiled by Bloomberg showed. Philips shares rose the most in more than three months.

Profit at Philips, among the first of the major electronics companies to report the quarter's results, may be an indicator of how the industry fared in the global economic slump. Philips CEO Gerard Kleisterlee, who is cutting 6,000 jobs, raised his cost-saving estimate to more than 600 million euros, up from 500 million euros.

"The positive surprise is in the costs," said Peter Olofsen, an Amsterdam-based analyst at Kepler Capital Markets who rates Philips shares "reduce".

Net income included 90 million euros of one-time gains related to insurance recoveries and legal settlement. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization slipped to 118 million euros from 396 million in the year-earlier period.