Dutch electronics manufacturer Royal Philips Electronics NV announced Monday that it will transfer its television operations to a Hong Kong partner after first-quarter net profit declined 31 percent, announced Reuters.

Philips TV operations will be transferred to the new company, with 70% of the shares controlled by the monitor manufacturer TPV Technology and remaining 30% by Philips. Television sets produced by the new company will bear the Philips brand for at least five years and the Dutch company will receive royalties.

“Finding a solution to our operations in the field of television was the main priority and we believe that the solution of a joint-venture owned 30-70% with TPV enables us to bring back these operations on profit and to grow by focusing on other areas like healthcare and lighting”, said Philips CEO, Frans van Houten.

Once a world leader in television, Philips has gradually lost ground to rivals that were offering lower priced products. This division, responsible for more than 10 percent of the group’s sales, has been a problem, posting a net loss of one billion Euros from 2007 until today.

Philips also announced Monday that in the first quarter of this year it recorded a net profit of 138 million Euros, down 31 percent from the same period last year and below analysts’ estimates.

Philips employs approximately 119,000 employees in over 60 countries. In 2010, the company recorded a net profit of 1.45 billion Euros, three times more than 410 million Euros in 2009.