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Siemens, the technology and telecoms giant, reported a 76 percent drop in its net income for the fiscal year to EUR2.09 billion from EUR8.8 billion last year.
Siemens, which employs close to 900 people in Ireland, said that this figure for the 12 months from 01 October 2000 to 30 September 2001 included results from Infineon, (its separate microchip unit). When the semiconductor division was excluded, earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) were EUR1.3 billion. EBITA in its fiscal year 2000 was EUR2.8 billion.
However, Siemens worldwide did increase sales during its latest fiscal year by 12 percent to EUR87 billion and orders grew by 11 percent over that period to EUR92.6 billion. Excluding Infineon, sales increased by 15 percent to EUR82.26 billion and orders rose by 17 percent to EUR88.96 billion.
The company also said that despite the weakening economic environment in the second half of the fiscal year a number of operating groups delivered "strong earnings performance". These units included its automation and drives, medical solutions, power generation, and transportation systems divisions.
But, it said that all three of its groups in the information and communication businesses areas had been adversely affected by "rapidly deteriorating business conditions in the sectors they serve".
Siemens said in a statement that its Information and Communication Networks (ICN) division had seen its earnings fall due to the cutbacks in capital spending by telecom operators on telecoms and networking products.
ICN's earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) for the 2001 fiscal year were EUR198 million, excluding the effects of restructuring charges and asset write-downs. When these effects were included, which totalled EUR1.06 billion, it had losses before interest, tax and amortisation of EUR861 million, compared with EUR686 million a year earlier.
Historically, ICN had been a key earnings division for Siemens, but it has not fared so well recently. However, Siemens said that by working off its large order backlog it had increased sales to EUR12.88 billion during fiscal 2001, a 14 percent increase from the same period a year ago, and while order growth slowed, orders still increased nine percent over the year to EUR12.64 billion.
Siemens also said that its Information and Communication Mobile (ICM) unit, recorded losses before interest, tax and amortisation of EUR307 million during its latest fiscal year, including charges of EUR441 million. However, sales did increase from the previous fiscal year by 27 percent to EUR11.3 billion and orders were up 14 percent to EUR11.87 billion.
For the fourth quarter, Siemens posted a net loss of just over EUR1 billion after taxes. Its net loss for Q4 2001 of EUR1.09 billion was down from a net income in the same period last year of EUR562 million. Siemens said that its net income in the quarter had been affected by special items totalling EUR532 million after taxes, as well restructuring charges and asset write-downs.
In the fourth quarter, Siemens worldwide had sales of EUR24.54 billion, up from EUR23.66 billion in the same quarter a year ago, but orders were down to EUR22.21 billion from EUR23.59 billion in Q4, 2000.
Siemens, which this year has reduced its workforce by around 15,000, said that it was committed to achieving its previously stated medium-term targets, but added that its information and communication units may take longer to reach these goals. It also said that it wasn't going to comment on the outlook for the company until it could better assess the impact of the event of 11 September.
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