GERMANY/FILE: Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser will present his strategy for the German engineering group next spring and indicates it would not include further restructuring

Record ID: 862047

  • Title: GERMANY/FILE: Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser will present his strategy for the German engineering group next spring and indicates it would not include further restructuring
  • Date: 7th November 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 07, 2013) (REUTERS) CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (German) SIEMENS CEO, JOE KAESER, SAYING "I don't think that we need another cost-cutting programme. The value that needs to be and is permanent comes through innovation. A short-term cost-cutting programme does not offer a long-term perspective. You can do that when structural changes occur in markets or products such as over the past few years with the European debt and financial crisis. There, we had to adapt to structural changes because markets required it."
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Business,General,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA8R6TJ8DNN9MFD2O9S73DUA9KG
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: German engineering group Siemens is unlikely to need another cost-cutting programme, CEO Joe Kaeser told Reuters Television in Berlin on Thursday (November 07).

    "I don't think that we need another cost-cutting programme," said Kaeser, who was named as CEO in late July, in an interview after Siemens published fourth-quarter financial results on Thursday.

    "You can do that when structural changes occur in markets or products such as over the past few years with the European debt and financial crisis," said Kaeser.

    "There, we had to adapt to structural changes because markets required it," he said ahead of the news conference where yearly results were announced.
    Siemens aims to slash the amount of project charges it books every year well below the 700 million euro ($947 million) average of recent years, according to its finance chief.

    "We assumed office to once again turn this company into what it stands for: reliability, technical innovation and of course ultimately an earnings level which others already achieved," said Kaeser in the interview with Reuters.
    Kaeser, who was named CEO following a messy boardroom tussle in late July, has yet to lay out his plans for the company, whose products range from gas turbines to fast trains and ultrasound machines, but he has made it clear that his focus for the moment will be on profitability.
    The company has fallen behind rivals such as Switzerland's ABB and U.S.-based General Electric in terms of profitability in recent years, due to a focus on sales growth as well as poor project management that resulted in a series of one-off charges.
    At the same time, industrial companies are facing a dearth of large orders as industrial customers delay spending in a weak global economy and many are slashing costs and jobs.
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