SHARES in Philips Electronics NV, Europe's biggest consumer electronics company, plummeted yesterday after it warned investors that first quarter earnings would fall sharply. The shares fell 7.20 guilders or 10.9 per cent to 59.00, having shown modest gains just before the announcement to its annual meeting in Eindhoven.

Philips said the fall in profits was caused mainly by a weak consumer electronics market and by lower demand from the personal computer (PC) industry for monitors and semiconductors. It said it would do everything it could to avoid a fall in earnings for the full year. In the first quarter of 1995 Philips made a net profit from normal operations of 544 million guilders (£209 million). The company is due to announce its first quarter 1996 results on April 24th.