Siemens Energy scraps dividend due to wind division turmoil

SIEMENS Energy said on Wednesday (Nov 16) it would not pay a dividend on its annual results, blaming a widening net loss, and its struggling wind turbine division Siemens Gamesa.

The company’s net loss for the year ended Sep 30 came in at 647 million euros (S$921 million), also burdened by a 200-million-euro charge due to the restructuring of its Russian division, which it has partly sold.

Siemens Energy owns 67 per cent of Siemens Gamesa, and has launched a 4.05-billion-euro bid, expected to run until Dec 13, to buy the rest in an attempt to better integrate the division, and fix quality issues at a next-generation turbine model.

“In a challenging year, we managed to again deliver solid results in our gas and power business, while Siemens Gamesa did not meet expectations,” Siemens Energy’s chief executive Christian Bruch said.

“The integration of Siemens Gamesa will help to improve profitability at our wind business and allow it to deliver to its full potential.”

Fourth-quarter sales were up 5.9 per cent at 9.2 billion euros, the company said, higher than the 8.8-billion euro Refinitiv estimate. The company added that, at 97.4 billion euros, its order backlog had reached a new record.

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Quarterly results, particularly order intake, should provide sufficient tailwind for the company’s shares to rise further, a local trader said, following a 27 per cent rise since October.

Shares in the company – which made headlines earlier this year due to its servicing role at the Portovaya compressor station, which powered the now-defunct Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline – were indicated to open flat. REUTERS