Annual balance: record profits and slow growth at Siemens

Siemens is getting off to a slow start, but it’s making great money. The group achieved profit after taxes of 9 billion euros in the past financial year – more than ever before, as the DAX company announced. The group also owes the record to a book profit of half a billion through the transfer of shares in its former subsidiary Siemens Energy to its own pension fund. In terms of sales, however, the Munich-based company is only making slow progress. According to our own forecasts, it will remain this way in the new financial year, which has been running since October.

Siemens is benefiting “from the continued high demand for electrification, mobility and our industrial software offerings,” said CEO Roland Busch. The automation business, however, remains “challenging”.

Sales are only growing slightly

The Smart Infrastructure division, which achieved significant growth, made the largest contribution to the result this year. In doing so, it overtook the previous model student, Digital Industries, with its weak automation business. Digital Industries has been suffering for some time, among other things, from high inventory levels among customers and dealers. Sales and earnings there fell significantly.

Overall, Siemens was only able to increase sales by 1 percent to 75.9 billion euros in the 2024 financial year. Incoming orders even fell by 6 percent to 84.1 billion. In the new financial year, Siemens still expects moderate sales growth of 3 to 7 percent on a comparable basis. The profit should take place on a similar basis as in 2024 – without special effects. Including special effects, Siemens already has the first 2 billion euros in its pocket. The recently completed sale of the electric motor manufacturer Innomotics will result in a preliminary profit of this amount, which will be reflected in the current new financial year.