2023-08-10 12:50:30
Most recently, Siemens had benefited from customers stockpiling in the face of uncertain supply chains. The reduction of these stocks is now slowing down the Munich company somewhat. The smallest division can shine.
München.
Siemens presented solid figures for the third quarter of its fiscal year, but there are slight signs of slowdown. The bottom line is that the Munich group earned 1.4 billion euros, according to its own statements, despite renewed charges from its participation in the troubled former energy division Siemens Energy. Sales increased to 18.9 billion. Nevertheless, Siemens is becoming a little more cautious in its forecast for its largest division, Digital Industries (DI).
DI is primarily concerned with the automation and digitization of factories and manufacturing. Orders received there fell by more than a third. It stagnated in the second largest division, Smart Infrastructure (SI). CEO Roland Busch explained the two developments with a normalization of ordering behavior.
In recent years, the industry had increased its inventories in response to uncertain supply chains – from which Siemens as a supplier had also benefited. The companies are now adjusting their inventories to the “more relaxed situation in the supply chains,” said Busch. Together with delivery delays by customers, this has prevented stronger sales growth at DI.
Long-term growth trends “fully intact”
Rapid change is not in sight: “In China, the market for industrial production is recovering more slowly than expected,” said Busch. “We therefore assume that development will continue to flatten out.” In the forecast for the DI division, Siemens is accordingly more cautious: Sales there should no longer grow quite as quickly as originally predicted and the forecasts for the margin are also a touch more cautious.
Siemens, on the other hand, confirmed the forecast at group level, which had already been raised twice in the current year. In principle, the long-term growth trends are “fully intact”, emphasized Busch.
Siemens Energy continues to be a burden
The stake in the former energy division Siemens Energy, which was floated on the stock exchange almost three years ago, also played a role again. The company’s high loss also weighed on Siemens. The “repeated massive losses and quality defects” in the wind business are “a serious disappointment”, said Busch and criticized the crisis management. He announced: “We will continue to reduce our share”, but gave no further details.
The fact that incoming orders at group level rose to 24.2 billion despite the weaknesses in DI and SI was due to the smallest group division, Mobility, which recorded a few large orders. The Group’s order backlog climbed to a record 110 billion euros.
All in all, Busch was positive about the past quarter. “We have grown profitably again and have demonstrated our competitive strength in all of our businesses,” he said. However, he could not convince the stock exchange: In the morning, Siemens was the biggest loser in the Dax stock index. (dpa)
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