Germany's Siemens sees slow start in Q1

Source: Xinhua | 2020-02-06

In the first quarter of the fiscal year 2020, revenues of German technology giant Siemens rose by 1 percent to 20.3 billion euros (22.4 billion U.S. dollars) year on year, it was announced on Wednesday.

However, net income declined by 3 percent to 1.1 billion euros, according to Siemens, which hosted its annual shareholders' meeting in Munich on Wednesday.

"After a powerful finish in fiscal 2019, the first quarter started slowly as expected," said Siemens chief executive officer Joe Kaeser.

Orders were down 2 percent to 24.8 billion euros from the "strong prior-year level", mainly because of the continuing weakness of the German car industry.

Although Siemens subsidiary and wind turbine manufacturer SGRE recorded a "sharp" order growth due to large orders for offshore wind-farms, SGRE recorded a negative quarterly result due to "substantial negative effects" from its onshore business.

"The weak performance across our energy businesses reinforces our priorities," said Kaeser.

In 2020, Siemens plans to spin off its gas and power business and to list on the stock market under the name Siemens Energy. Siemens' 59 percent stake in SGRE would be contributed to the new company.

On Wednesday, several environmental protection groups protested in front of the Munich Olympic Hall where the shareholders' meeting was taking place. The protests are directed, among other things, against Siemens' participation in an Australian coal mine project.