Siemens reports Rs 48 crore loss, sells two business units

Company also decides to sell it postal and parcel logistics business and airport logistics technology business to a subsidiary of its parent company for about Rs 122 crore

Siemens reported Rs 48 crore loss for quarter ending June as against Rs 36 crore profit for same period last year due to continued weakness in the capital goods sector. Revenue fell 12.4%  to Rs 2642 crore and the company also faced pressure on order booking and margin front.

The company board also decided to sell it postal and parcel logistics business and airport logistics technology business to a subsidiary of its parent company for about Rs 122 crore. The company gave no reason for the sale and did not respond to a query seeking comment.

Armin Bruck, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd., said, “Our results have been impacted by the uncertain macro-economic situation as well as volatility in the currency and commodity exchange rates.

It is imperative now that concrete steps are taken to create an environment that will encourage growth in the country through increased Capex spending. The negative result included a provision  of Rs 135 crore on the books due to revision in costs and project estimates.

The June end results reflected a disappointing trend which is evident since last year. In the first six months of the financial year too  (Siemens follows an Oct-Sept calendar) has not been encouraging. The order book remains flat, revenue has  slumped and profit dipped 74% in the first six months of FY2013 over the previous year.

Last year it shut down its wind energy turbine factory last year and dismissed a little over 200 employees, including technical ones, as it struggled to retain profitability.