The Munich technology group Siemens progressed slightly despite the persistent weakness of its flagship Digital Industries.
Turnover for the past financial year 2023/24 (ended at the end of September) increased by 3% on a comparable basis, to 75.9 billion euros, and the result of industrial activities improved to 11, 4 billion euros (11.3 in 2022/23), Siemens announced on Thursday. The group expected an increase of at least 4% in turnover, although financial director Ralf Thomas had already tempered expectations recently. In the end, the group recorded a record profit of 9.0 (8.5) billion euros. Shareholders are expected to receive a dividend of 5.20 euros per share, up 50 cents.
The automation business – the core of the Digital Industries (DI) division – remains “a challenge”, said CEO Roland Busch. For the new financial year, Siemens expects at most a slight increase in DI sales, as demand in China is not recovering as hoped. The building technology and IT infrastructure sector as well as the railway business are expected to compensate for this with strong growth, so that the group's turnover is expected to grow by 3 to 7 percent on a comparable basis. For adjusted earnings per share, Siemens sets the same target as for 2023/24, namely 10.40 to 11.00 (10.54) euros.
Mr. Busch announced a program called “One Tech Company”, which aims to strengthen ties between different parts of the company. The goals are to focus more on customers, innovate faster and achieve stronger profitable growth. The recently announced acquisition of US industrial software company Altair is one of them. “We will continue to invest in research and development as well as acquisitions,” Busch said.
(Reporting by Alexander Hübner, written by Myria Mildenberger. For any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for business and markets).
