Siemens AG: Strong finish for fiscal year 2015

Photo source AFP

In fiscal 2015, orders climbed six per cent to €82.3 billion ($87.7 billion). Revenue was also up six per cent to €75.6 billion ($80.6 billion). The profit margin for the Industrial Business was 10.1 per cent. Net income totalled €7.4 billion or $7.9 billion (fiscal 2014: €5.5 billion). At €8.84 ($9.43), basic earnings per share were 39 per cent above the prior-year figure.

“We delivered what we promised, and are well positioned to deliver on our plans for the year ahead,” said Joe Kaeser, president and chief executive officer of Siemens AG.

For fiscal 2015, Siemens’ Managing Board and Supervisory Board will propose that shareholders at the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in January 2016 approve a dividend of €3.50 or $3.73 (fiscal 2014: €3.30).

Siemens also intends to repurchase shares with a volume of up to €3 billion ($3.2 billion) within the next 36 months. This repurchase will be accomplished under the authorisations granted by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in January 2016.

“With the new planned share buyback program, we want to ensure that our shareholders continuously participate in our company’s success,” said Siemens CFO Ralf P. Thomas.

Employees will receive profit-sharing distributions totalling nearly €2.2 billion ($2.35 billion) in cash and shares, plus €200 million ($213 million) that the company has approved for the Siemens Profit Sharing Pool.

This new stock-based employee profit-sharing concept, which Siemens launched a year ago, enables employees to participate directly in the company’s success.

Siemens anticipates further softening in the macroeconomic environment and continuing complexity in the geopolitical environment in fiscal 2016. Nevertheless the company expects moderate revenue growth. Accordingly, for its Industrial Business, the company expects a profit margin of 10 per cent to 11 per cent.

Furthermore, Siemens expects basic EPS from net income in the range of €5.90 to €6.20 as compared to €5.18 in fiscal 2015 excluding €3.66 per share in portfolio gains from the divestments of the hearing aid business and the stake in BSH. As a result, EPS are expected to achieve double-digit growth of at least 14 per cent on a comparable basis.