Siemens cutting a further 4,500 jobs

Siemens announced plans to shed a further 4,500 jobs – about 1 percent of its global workforce.

The firm said that 2,200 jobs would be slashed in Germany.

The planned cuts come on top of the 7,800 redundancies that Siemens announced in February – a figure later brought down to 7,400 after labor negotiations.

The job cuts in the power and gas business have been the result of a challenging market for power-generation equipment.

Europe’s electricity utilities have been hit by falling prices, increased competition, regulatory changes, and overcapacity.

Siemens press picture

Siemens said:

“These measures are being taken in response to the persistently difficult environment in the global power generation market.”

Siemens’ industrial businesses – closely watched by analysts – reported a 5 percent decline in profit to €1.7 billion in its second quarter that ended in March, just shy of what the market had forecast, according to Reuters.

The company’s chief executive Joe Kaeser commented: “The profitability of our Industrial Business shows that we must still improve some businesses.”

 

However, proceeds from asset sales helped offset shrinking profit margins at its energy and industrial units.

Net profit for the period rose to €3.89 billion, from €1.12 billion in the same period last year. While revenue increased 8% to €18.05 billion, from €16.7 billion last year.

The firm said that its long-term strategy remains unchanged.

Shares of Siemens were slightly lower in Frankfurt morning trading.