Siemens is investing $ 15 million in Arava Power Company, the Israeli market leader in developing solar power plants. An agreement was signed at Kibbutz Ketura yesterday, securing Siemens a 40 percent stake in the company. Arava Power develops, builds and operates photovoltaic plants in Israel. “This investment is another consequential step in further strengthening our green and sustainable technologies,” said Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens AG. “Thanks to its intensive sunshine and steadily growing demand for energy, Israel is an ideal location for further developing our solar business.” The equity investment will make it possible to build Israel’s first commercial solar farms – to be located in the region between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.
Effective 1 October 2009 Siemens IT Solutions and Services will acquire a 60 percent stake in Energy4U GmbH. The aim of the investment is to strengthen the smart grid portfolio for utility companies in the area of smart metering and billing, also known as “meter-to-bill”. Based in Elbtal, in the state of Hesse, Energy4U specializes in SAP implementation of customer information and billing systems for utilities. Founded in the year 2000, Energy4U GmbH has over 90 employees and is one of Germany’s leading SAP service providers in this market segment. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction remains subject to final approval by the German antitrust authorities.
Siemens has confirmed its targets for fiscal 2009 even in the current challenging global economic environment. “Our third-quarter results demonstrate that we are fully on track to achieve our targets for fiscal 2009,” said Siemens’ President and CEO Peter Löscher. In the third quarter, Siemens’ strong order backlog softened the impact of the global recession on the company’s revenue and profit. Revenue declined to approximately €18.3 billion. Excluding currency translation effects and portfolio transactions, revenue was down 4% from the third quarter a year earlier. Total Sectors profit decreased to approximately €1.7 billion. Orders of approximately €17.2 billion in the third quarter were well below the prior-year level. The decline is attributable in part to the high order level posted in the prior year, which included a major order worth roughly €1.4 billion from the Belgian state railway system. Backlog for the Sectors totaled €84.3 billion at the end of the third quarter. “We again did particularly well compared with our most important competitors,” CEO Löscher noted. ”As expected, the macroeconomic environment clearly left its mark on new business. We had already prepared for that ahead of time. We are also carefully considering the challenges ahead. We will continue the rigorous pursuit of our corporate policy focused on sustainability,” Löscher said.
We released our third quarter results for fiscal 2009 on July 30, 2009.
“Our third-quarter results demonstrate that we are fully on track to achieve our targets for fiscal 2009,” commented Siemens CEO Peter Löscher. “We again did particularly well compared with our most important competitors. As expected, the macroeconomic environment clearly left its mark on new business. We had already prepared for that ahead of time. We are also carefully considering the challenges ahead. We will continue the rigorous pursuit of our corporate policy focused on sustainability.” Peter Löscher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG
On Sunday, August 9, 2009, Wagner’s opera “Tristan und Isolde” will be relayed live from the world-famous Festspielhaus to the Bayreuth Festplatz and also transmitted online worldwide. The Siemens Festival Night will enable tens of thousands of people in Bayreuth and around the globe to see why opera fans consider the Richard Wagner Festival on the famed “Green Hill” to be a major highlight of the opera world. “We are happy to help Bayreuth present this world-class cultural event to a global audience,” said Siemens President and CEO Peter Löscher, “and we want to continue doing so after 2009, since we are interested in a long-term partnership.”
Siemens AG has landed orders totaling about €1 billion for infrastructure projects in advance of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Most of these orders are connected with the expansion of the country’s energy infrastructure. “Our infrastructure solutions are supporting our partners in South Africa in ensuring the 2010 World Cup will be an emotional highlight for the country,” said Siegfried Russwurm, the member of Siemens’ Managing Board who is responsible for the company’s activities in Africa. “Long after the World Cup is over, the solutions we’re providing in South Africa will continue to bring sustainable improvements in the quality of people’s lives. The products will support the further development of the economy and enhance environmental protection.” Besides contributing a large number of solutions in the areas of power generation and transmission, Siemens is participating in the design of traffic management solutions for mass transit systems and in the improvement of healthcare services. In addition, until now lighting systems from the Siemens subsidiary Osram will be employed in eight of ten World Cup stadiums.
Siemens South Africa has announced the appointment of Stuart Clarkson as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 July 2009, replacing outgoing CEO Siegmar Proebstl, who returns to Siemens in Germany.