Siemens core profit hurt by wind power charges

[BERLIN] German engineering group Siemens missed expectations for fourth-quarter core profit, hurt by charges for faulty wind turbines that pushed its wind power division to a loss.

Siemens, one of Germany's biggest companies and a major exporter of goods from trains to turbines to hospital equipment, posted total sectors profit up 28 per cent to 2.2 billion euros (US$2.76 billion), missing the average estimate of 2.25 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

It forecast flat sales for the current year and targeted an industrial profit margin of 10-11 per cent, a new benchmark for Siemens as it seeks to close a profitability gap with rivals under chief executive Joe Kaeser, who took over in 2013.

Siemens also said it had agreed to sell its hearing-aid unit to private equity firm EQT and Germany's Struengmann family for 2.15 billion euros, and would keep a 200 million-euro equity investment in the business.

REUTERS