At the meeting of Siemens’ Supervisory Board immediately following the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the First Chairman of IG Metall, Bertold Huber, was elected Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Berthold Huber will assume the position previously held by Ralf Heckmann, who left the Supervisory Board for personal reasons. This is the first time that a representative of IG Metall has served as Deputy Chairman of Siemens’ Supervisory Board. Hans-Jürgen Hartung, the Chairman of the Works Council at the Siemens Energy location in Erlangen, Germany, will assume the Supervisory Board seat formerly held by Ralf Heckmann.
Siemens got off to a good start in fiscal 2009 despite challenging market conditions. Revenue rose 7% to €19.634 billion in the first quarter, which ended on December 31, 2008. Orders continued to exceed revenue, at €22.220 billion, but declined 8% compared to the record high first quarter a year earlier. Siemens has thus performed significantly better than most of its competitors. Total Sectors profit climbed 20%, to €2.005 billion, and net income was €1.230 billion in the first quarter. In spite of the adverse economic conditions, Siemens is sticking to its income goals for fiscal 2009.
Interest in the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Siemens AG continues unabated in 2009. Some 24,000 shareholders have ordered tickets for tomorrow’s event in Munich’s Olympiahalle. About 11,000 shareholders ordered tickets online via the Internet. Some 63,000 registered to receive meeting documents electronically. By way of comparison: in 2008, roughly 26,000 shareholders ordered tickets and over 12,000 came to the Olympiahalle.
As contractually specified, Siemens AG will terminate the Shareholders Agreement for the Franco-German joint venture Areva NP S.A.S., specified effective latest January 30, 2012, and sell its entire stake to the majority shareholder Areva S.A. under the terms of a put agreement. Siemens stated its lack of exercising entrepreneurial influence within the joint venture as the reason behind the move. The transaction is subject to the approval of antitrust authorities. The purchase price for the shares to be transferred will be agreed upon by the contractual parties in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Shareholders Agreement. In 2001, Siemens combined its nuclear business activities with those of the French company Framatome and has since then held a minority share (34 percent) in the joint venture Areva NP (formerly Framatome ANP).
Siemens AG announced today that legal proceedings against it arising from allegations of bribing public officials were concluded on the same day in Munich and in Washington, DC. Siemens will pay total fines and penalties of about €1 billion.