German electronics and engineering conglomerate Siemens AG has reported a net profit for the nine months ending June 30, 1999 up 17%, at DM2.09bn ($1.12bn) on revenue that rose 12% to DM92.2bn ($49.5bn). The group’s information and communications division, which covers all its activities in the IT and telecoms sectors, including services, contributed DM34.5bn ($18.5bn), or 37.4% of total revenue. The division comprises three separate business units of which Siemens Business Services enjoyed the greatest growth, increasing its revenue 15% to DM4.8bn ($2.58bn).
The computer and telecoms product unit (ICP) also reported growth over the nine months, its revenue increasing 3% to DM13.1bn ($7.04bn). The networking business (ICN), on the other hand, reported a fall in revenue of 3%, to DM16.6bn ($8.93bn).
As for the fate of the group’s electronic components business, the company confirmed yesterday that the semiconductor unit, now called Infineon Technologies AG, will be floated in both Germany and the US in the first quarter of 2000. The company reported a profit of DM41m ($22m) in the group’s third fiscal quarter, though it reported a net loss of DM62m ($33m) for the nine-month period.
The passive components and electron tube business, now called Epcos AG, will list earlier than Infineon, in the last quarter of this year, with the second half of October as the most likely timeframe.
Also in the telecoms sector, Siemens announced that its manufacturing facility at Witten, Germany, with some 1,100 employees from the ICN unit producing its Hicom systems, is to be sold to another German group, Vogt Electronic AG, on September 1. Thereafter the group plans to sign a multi-year general supply contract with Vogt.
