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Siemens overhaul

May 7, 2014

German engineering heavyweight Siemens has confirmed plans for a complete restructuring of the company. Its chief executive aims to make the firm leaner, more competitive and more profitable.

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Siemens shareholders flock to a meeting
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Following a decisive advisory board meeting, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser (pictured) on Wednesday explained his new long-term strategy to the public and shareholders in particular.

Kaeser took the reins of Siemens last summer, and has since focused on his priority of closing a yawning profitability gap with rivals such as General Electric in the US.

A major streamlining of the Munich-based company is in the works. The present setup of the firm's four big divisions - industry, energy, health care and infrastructure – will belong to the past. Siemens' hearing aid equipment business will be spun off and listed on the stock exchange.

Net profit up

The company also confirmed its resolve to purchase Rolls-Royce's energy business.

More emphasis will be put on industrial software and digital production processes. It remains unclear for the time being how many more jobs will be cut in the wake of the restructuring process.

The revamp comes as Siemens mulls a formal offer for the energy business of French rival Alstom, which is already the target of a bid from US giant General Electric. The German company said it had been given four weeks to study Alstom's finances before committing.

Also on Wednesday, Siemens announced it upped its earnings by 12 percent to 1.15 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in its second quarter, which runs from January to March. Revenues dipped, though, by two percent compared with the same period a year earlier.

hg/nz (dpa, AFP)