Siemens got off to a strong start in the new fiscal year. In the railway business and at the medical technology subsidiary, things were not going so well. But another division shone.
The technology group Siemens is becoming more optimistic after a strong start to the new fiscal year. Both sales and profit are expected to rise a little more than planned in 2022/23 (by the end of September). In the first fiscal quarter, Siemens performed better than expected. The digitization business was able to more than compensate for weaknesses in the train division and at the medical technology subsidiary Siemens Healthineers.
Sales are now expected to increase by seven to ten percent in 2022/23 on a comparable basis – i.e. without effects from acquisitions and sales as well as currency conversions, as the company listed in the Dax surprisingly announced on Wednesday evening in Munich before the general meeting on Thursday. The range was thus increased by one percentage point at both ends. For the two divisions Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure, Siemens increased the expectations for revenue growth and profitability.
In the first quarter, the Group benefited from a stronger than expected development in the intelligent infrastructure business. The digitization division continued to score with a strong automation business. Weaknesses in the train division, which suffered from persistent delivery delays, and at Siemens Healthineers, where the past high demand for rapid corona tests has now all but disappeared, were more than compensated for.
Turnover increases significantly – profit decreases
Siemens increased group sales by ten percent to almost 18.1 billion euros. Comparable growth was eight percent. The result of the industrial businesses increased by nine percent to almost 2.7 billion euros. Analysts had previously expected operating earnings to be around the same level as the previous year. After taxes, however, profit fell to around 1.6 billion euros. Among other things, a higher loss at Siemens Energy had a negative effect here. In addition, Siemens had benefited from a special profit in the same quarter of the previous year.
A small drop of bitterness was the order intake, which fell by seven percent to 22.6 billion euros. However, last year Siemens benefited greatly from orders brought forward, especially in the digitization division, and large orders from Siemens Mobility. Analysts had also expected less here.
“With a result of 2.7 billion euros in the industrial business, we have had the strongest start to a new financial year to date,” commented CEO Roland Busch on the figures. According to the manager, the forecast was also increased with a view to the record order backlog of 102 billion euros. The annual general meeting will take place at Siemens on Thursday.
Source: Stern
