Siemens earnings down, warns of weak global demand

Siemens has said that it has a solid foundation to face 2013, but the company's Q1 results show a decline in profits quarter-on-quarter.

The German industrial giant posted its financial results (PDF) for the three months leading to December 2012 on Wednesday. Revenue for Q1 edged a little higher for the firm due to an increase of 2 percent, however net earnings declined 12 percent as consumer demand slowed down and the inclusion of a number of one-time charges.

The company said that revenue rose 2 percent to 18.1 billion euros ($24 billion), supported by a growth rate of 4 percent in emerging markets, accounting for 5.98 billion euros. However, orders dropped 3 percent to 19.14 billion euros ($25.4 billion) from 19.72 billion euros ($26.2 billion) in the previous quarter.

Net income slid to 1.21 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in Q1, compared with 1.38 billion euros ($1.8 billion) a year earlier in the same fiscal quarter.

Siemens was required to take one-time charges of 116 million euros within its transport business, and net profit was impacted because of a 150 million euros loss in the solar technology sector.

Chief Executive Peter Loscher said in a prepared statement:

In an uncertain economic environment, we got off to a solid start in fiscal 2013. For the rest of the year as well, we don't expect any tailwinds from the global economy to help us reach our ambitious goals. Our full attention is on implementing our Siemens 2014 program.

The German manufacturing firm is planning cost-cutting restructuring in the hopes of saving roughly 6 billion euros within the next two years, as well as become more competitive in a tough economic climate.