PSRS sale

has announced the €65m (£51m) sale of its Philips Speech Recognition Systems business (PSRS) to US-based

.

Last year's sales of PSRS were recorded at approximately €25m. Philips expects to make a net profit of around €40m, which will be accounted for in the company’s third quarter results for this year.

PSRS is active in speech recognition technology for document creation in the medical and legal sectors. The PSRS platform, SpeechMagic, focuses mainly on administrative processes such as document creation and information management.

Philips Healthcare aims to address the diagnostic and therapeutic needs of patients and their carers. According to the company, PSRS no longer fits into the business's strategic plans and it believes the transaction will prove beneficial to both companies.

Marcel Wassink, chief executive officer of PSRS, said: ‘By teaming up with a leader in the speech business with a strong track record like Nuance, we can work together to drive new speech-driven services and help Nuance reinforce its presence in the European market.’

The transaction will build upon Nuance’s line of speech-driven clinical documentation and communication systems and improve prospects overseas. All of PSRS’s 170 employees, including 130 based in Austria, will transfer to Nuance following the sale.