Despite power plant crisis: Siemens makes six billion euros profit

In spite of numerous problems at € 83 billion, Siemens revenue increased slightly in the full year 2018 compared to the previous year. This was announced by the group at the presentation of the annual figures in Munich. The profit after tax grew accordingly by 26 million to 6.12 billion euros.

The fourth quarter of the business, however, was comparatively weak. The profit collapsed in the period by nearly half. Siemens earned 681 million euros in the last three months of the past financial year the bottom line - after 1.25 billion euros in the same period last year.

The reorganization of the Power & Gas (PG) power plant division, in particular, weighed heavily on Siemens. The division is still struggling with overcapacity due to weak global demand for large turbines. In Görlitz, therefore, a plant with thousands of employees was up for discussion at the beginning of the year, until the company gave in after fierce protests. Another reason for the decline was the cost of outsourcing the successful Siemens Zug division. It is to be merged with the French Alstom Group in the first half of 2019.

Siemens shares rise in value

Under company boss Joe Kaeser, the company is currently developing into a holding company with three operating units that will become more independent and more responsible. For the railway fusion with Alstom, the commitment of the European Commission is still pending. In addition, two units are already listed on the market with the medical technology division Healthineers and the wind power business.

For investors, the Siemens result was cause for delight. On the stock market, the Dax Group was able to gain more than one percent at lunchtime, while the leading index Dax had fallen slightly in total. At € 104.66, the Group's shares had temporarily reached their highest level for a month.

At 28 percent, earnings in the Siemens division, which digitized factories, rose the most. This contributed 616 million euros to the profits of the German conglomerate. Above all, the software business in the US and China is booming.

Along with the year's figures, Siemens also announced that it would buy back more shares. The program has a volume of three billion euros and should run until 2021. In order to save costs at headquarters, Siemens also plans to cut thousands of jobs.