2023-11-16 12:20:33
Business at Siemens is booming. Even a slight weakness in China did not stop the group on its way to record profits.
München.
Siemens closed the last financial year with a record profit. After taxes, the group earned 8.5 billion euros, as it announced on Thursday in Munich. That is almost double the previous year’s value, which, however, also suffered from the consequences of the Ukraine war and a write-down on the share package in the former subsidiary Siemens Energy.
There were no such setbacks for Siemens in the past financial year. On the contrary: Because a temporary recovery in the Energy share had triggered a book profit, the investment contributed a total of around 670 million euros to the result.
“The 2023 financial year was a year with numerous records,” said CEO Roland Busch. This was achieved despite difficult conditions in a volatile environment. “Our strategy is paying off in the long term.”
Sales and incoming orders also increased. On a comparable basis, sales increased by 11 percent to 77.8 billion euros, incoming orders increased by 7 percent to 92.3 billion euros – the Mobility division in particular drove the development through large orders. The order backlog at the end of the financial year on September 30th was 111 billion euros.
More employees worldwide
Siemens is fundamentally confident for the coming financial year and expects profitable growth in its industrial business. Earnings per share are also expected to be 10.40 to 11.00 euros, higher than in the past financial year, but without taking the Energy investment into account. Sales are expected to increase moderately by 4 to 8 percent. One thing that is noticeable here is that customers are reducing inventories in some areas.
China in particular has recently been weak in terms of sales and order revenue. However, both Busch and CFO Ralf P. Thomas emphasized that China will continue to play an important role. Thomas expects a return to normality by the end of the 2024 financial year.
The number of employees in the group worldwide rose by around 9,000 to 320,000, and in Germany from 86,000 to 87,000. However, this number could fall again in the medium term if Siemens, as planned, divests itself of its motor and large drive business. According to the group, the subsidiary with the name Innomotics and over 15,000 employees is now largely independent and could be listed on the stock exchange. Preparations for this will begin, but “all other options will also be examined,” said Busch. Chief Financial Officer Thomas left it open what exactly an IPO might look like – it also depends on the future market situation. He also emphasized that potential buyers for Innomotics would certainly come forward.
Shareholders also benefit from the strong results. The dividend is expected to increase by 45 cents to 4.70 euros. Siemens also wants to launch a new share buyback program with a volume of up to 6 billion euros over up to five years. It should start after the end of the currently running program. The stock market received the news positively. Siemens shares were clearly up in the morning and were the biggest winner in the Dax. (dpa)
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