Siemens had tough fiscal year

Munich: Siemens AG had a "tough" fiscal year as orders for its factory equipment and lighting products declined, forcing Europe's biggest engineer to deepen job cuts and book charges, its Chief Financial Officer said on Tuesday.

Order bookings in the fiscal fourth quarter that ends today will fall about 20 per cent from a year earlier, and the Munich-based company is adjusting capacity to adapt, Joe Kaeser told analysts and investors at a meeting in London.

"The night is always darkest before dawn," Kaeser said in a web-cast presentation. The company held a "tight" grip on costs in 2009 and will continue to do so next year, he said.

Siemens, which makes light bulbs, medical scanners and drives that automate factory production, has cut its global workforce to 408,000 this year from more than 420,000 employees as clients in the energy, healthcare and manufacturing industries cut spending.

Meanwhile, Siemens AG sees additional savings of about 100 million euros (Dh537.6 million) by fiscal year 2011 in its health care unit, the company said, adding that the unit has already achieved about two-thirds of the 500 million euros in cost savings that are to be achieved by the end of 2010.