Hefty one-time charges pushed Siemens AG to a loss in the third quarter, but a recovering global economy fueled a healthy rise in new orders and earnings for the company’s full fiscal year, the industrial conglomerate said yesterday.
Siemens said it lost 396 million euros (US$545 million) in its fiscal fourth quarter, still better than a shortfall of 1.06 billion euros a year earlier.
REVENUE UP
At the same time, revenue was up 8 percent 19.71 billion euros to 21.23 billion euros and new orders climbed by a quarter, rising from 18.75 billion euros to 23.47 billion euros.
The strongest order growth of 40 percent came from the company’s energy division, as global energy markets improved and more large orders were received, Siemens said.
“We are coming out of the economic downturn with full momentum,” chief executive Peter Loescher said. “Our growth is gaining speed.”
Siemens, based in Munich, makes everything from light bulbs to trams and turbines for power stations.
HEALTHCARE
The company already had said in September that it would take a charge of up to 1.4 billion euros to reflect revised growth prospects at its healthcare diagnostics business.
Yesterday, Siemens said it had taken a 1.2 billion euro charge - in addition to charges of 383 million euros in charges to complete staff cuts at its information technology unit.
The company’s sectors, or operating, profit for the quarter was down 45 percent at 1.06 billion euros from 1.92 billion euros. For the full fiscal year, however, it was up 4 percent from 7.47 billion euros to 7.79 billion euros.
Full-year net profit came in at 4.07 billion euros up 63 percent from 2.5 billion euros from 2008 to last year. Revenue was down to 75.98 billion euros, a 1 percent slip, but new orders rose 3 percent from 78.99 billion euros to 81.16 billion euros.
POSITIVE MOMENTUM
Loescher said in a statement that Siemens expects to “take this positive momentum into the next fiscal year.”
“We expect clear growth in new orders compared to fiscal 2010. Also, revenue should again grow moderately. We expect to continue the positive trend in earnings growth,” he said.
Siemens said it has now defined a “clear dividend policy” for the first time and plans in future to distribute between 30 percent and 50 percent of its net income to shareholders. It said it will propose a dividend of 2.70 euros for this fiscal year, up from 1.60 euros the previous year.
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