Siemens AG (fka SI)

[Enterprising Investor]

Siemens CFO Expects Divestitures to Happen in FY 2014 (6/18/13)

Siemens AG ’s chief financial officer, Joe Kaeser, said on Tuesday that he expected the company to divest its water, airport logistics and baggage handling units in its fiscal year 2014, ending on Sept. 30.

“As far as disposals are concerned, we’re pretty much looking into to the fiscal year 2014 time frame,” said Mr. Kaeser in an exclusive interview at the CFO Network in Washington D.C. He said the company expects to divest the units as part of a plan to shed businesses it feels could perform better with other owners.

Siemens is in the midst of a restructuring program to prop up profit margins with cost cuts, the sale of low-margin businesses and acquisitions to boost exposure to markets outside Europe.

Siemens said in November that it wants to reduce overall group costs by €6 billion with a new efficiency program that foresees slashing several thousand jobs.

Mr. Kaeser declined to elaborate on comments he made in March, when he said the company would likely exit its mobile-network partnership with Nokia , Nokia Siemens Networks, in 2013. Analysts assign an enterprise value to Nokia Siemens of between $8 billion and $10 billion, and Siemens has been selling telecommunication assets in recent years.

He said the company still wants to sell the asset, but a recent turnaround at the unit has slowed the pace of the sale.

“We’re not in a hurry,” he said.

NSN, which makes telecom equipment and software components, has posted losses since its 2007 founding, despite a series of restructuring measures and job cuts. Mr. Kaeser said in March, however, that the measures have been successful and the company is now operating profitably.

http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2013/06/18/siemens-cfo-expects-divestitures-to-happen-in-fy-2014/?cb=logged0.16120671827379068