For the first time in almost twelve years, Siemens has to report a loss – even though business is going well. The Munich group lost 1.5 billion euros in the third business quarter.
Analysts had expected red numbers, but rather a loss of half a billion euros.
According to the company, the reasons for the loss are a billion-euro write-down on the remaining share in the former energy division Siemens Energy and charges in connection with Russia, since Siemens is withdrawing from there because of the Ukraine war. A year earlier, the group had made a profit of 1.48 billion euros.
The Energy write-down, which Siemens had already announced at the end of June, puts pressure on the result with 2.7 billion euros, Russia with 0.6 billion. That was too much for the group’s otherwise solid ongoing business to offset. Sales grew by a nominal eleven percent to 17.9 billion euros, and earnings in the industrial business by 27 percent to 2.9 billion. In the case of the latter, however, a profit of 0.7 billion from the sale of Yunex Traffic was also noticeable.
For the current year, the massive burdens from the third quarter are also costing Siemens the earnings forecast, which is now lower by the amount of the Energy depreciation. On the other hand, other signs for the future are good: After an increase in incoming orders of 22 billion euros, the order backlog is now at a record value of 99 billion euros, according to Siemens. “We have the right offer and the right strategy to be successful even in uncertain times,” emphasized Siemens CEO Roland Busch.
In the pre-market business, the Siemens share fell slightly according to the numbers.