Siemens Publishes Q4 FY 2021 Earnings

MUNICH, Germany — Siemens today released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 earnings results.

“We achieved a very successful start as a focused technology company. In a challenging environment, we have won market share and clearly exceeded our net income guidance,” said Roland Busch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG. “This momentum will continue in fiscal 2022. We’re ideally positioned to support our customers and benefit from the major growth drivers of digitalization and sustainability. We have the right strategy and – above all – the best team. I’m personally very grateful for the outstanding dedication of our team worldwide.”

“With a record-setting free cash flow, strong revenue growth and high profitability at the same time, we once again demonstrated the performance capabilities and resilience of Siemens,” added Ralf P. Thomas, Chief Financial Officer of Siemens AG. “Our shareholders also benefit from this successful performance. With a very attractive dividend, a strong stock price development and our new share buyback program, we continue to offer a highly attractive total shareholder return.”

• Orders climbed 26% to €19.1 billion [USD$21.88 billion], driven by double-digit growth in all industrial businesses, and revenue rose 18%, to €17.4 billion [USD$19.94 billion], for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.09
• Orders increased 16% and revenue rose 10% on a comparable basis excluding currency translation and portfolio effects, primarily the acquisition of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. between the periods under review
• Adjusted EBITA Industrial Businesses was €2.3 billion [USD$2.64 billion], and Adjusted EBITA margin Industrial Businesses was 13.8%
• Net income was €1.3 billion [USD$1.49 billion] and basic earnings per share (EPS) were €1.45 [USD$1.45]; a year earlier, net income of €1.9 billion [USD$2.18 billion] included €0.8 billion [USD$0.92 billion] in income from discontinued operations resulting mainly from the spin-off of Siemens Energy
• Outstanding Free cash flow from continuing and discontinued operations, totaling €3.8 billion [USD$4.35 billion] for the quarter
• For the full fiscal year 2021 orders were €71.4 billion [USD$81.8 billion] and revenue was €62.3 billion [USD$71.38 billion], for a book-to-bill-ratio of 1.15; strong comparable revenue growth of 11.5% met our guidance which we raised most recently after the third quarter, while net income of €6.7 billion [USD$7.68 billion] clearly exceeded expectations; Free cash flow for the full year reached a record high at €8.2 billion [USD$9.39 billion]
• Siemens proposes to increase the dividend from €3.50 [USD$4.01] a year earlier to €4.00 [USD$4.58] per share, reflecting our stellar performance in fiscal 2021 and our great confidence in the future development of the company

Following are company-wide results. For specific divisions and the full earnings report, click here.

• Increased growth opportunities in many key markets for Siemens despite a continuing complex macroeconomic environment influenced by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19); ongoing supply chain risks associated primarily with electronics components and raw materials, which were successfully mitigated during the quarter
• Continued very strong order intake on increases in all industrial businesses and reporting regions, led by Digital Industries and Mobility
• Revenue up in all industrial businesses and in all reporting regions, led by double-digit growth in Digital Industries and Siemens Healthineers
• Currency translation effects added one percentage point each to order and revenue growth; portfolio effects, primarily related to the acquisition of Varian Medical Systems Inc. (Varian) in Q3 FY 2021, added nine percentage points to order and seven percentage points to revenue growth
• Adjusted EBITA Industrial Businesses included strong contributions from all businesses, including a significant increase at Siemens Healthineers and Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure delivering excellent operating performances; a year earlier, Adjusted EBITA for Digital Industries benefited from a €0.5 billion [USD$0.57 billion] positive effect related to a stake in Bentley Systems, Inc. (Bentley) and Smart Infrastructure recorded a €0.2 billion [USD$0.23 billion] gain from the sale of a business
• Results outside Industrial Businesses benefited from a €0.3 billion [USD$0.34 billion]  revaluation gain on the stake in Thoughtworks Holding, Inc. (Thoughtworks) in Corporate items; in contrast, Q4 FY 2020 results were impacted by a €0.5 billion [USD$0.57 billion] impairment of an equity investment within Portfolio Companies
• Net income: Sharply lower income from discontinued operations compared to Q4 2020, which included a gain from the spin-off of Siemens Energy
• Following an outstanding performance in the first three quarters, a substantial increase in Free cash flow for Industrial Businesses to €3.8 billion [USD$4.35 billion] , up from €3.1 billion [USD$3.55 billion] in Q4 FY 2020, resulted in a cash conversion rate of 1.68; improvement was driven by Mobility, with significant project milestone and advance payments from customers; improvement for Industrial Businesses was offset by higher cash outflows outside Industrial Businesses, including higher tax payments
• Provisions for pensions and similar obligations as of September 30, 2021: €2.8 billion [USD$3.21 billion] (June 30, 2021: €2.9 billion [USD$3.32 billion])
• ROCE declined on a combination of lower net income and a significant increase in average capital employed, mainly related to the acquisition of Varian

Outlook
Our outlook for fiscal 2022 is based on continuing healthy growth in global GDP, albeit with slowing momentum, and our expectation that the challenges to our businesses from COVID-19 and supply chain constraints will ease during fiscal 2022. With these conditions and given our very strong fiscal year 2021, we expect our industrial businesses to continue their profitable growth.

For the Siemens group we expect mid-single-digit comparable revenue growth, net of currency translation and portfolio effects, and a book-to-bill ratio above 1.

Digital Industries expects for fiscal 2022 to achieve comparable revenue growth of 5% to 8% and a profit margin of 19% to 21%, including known headwinds of up to two percentage points associated with the strategic transition to software as a service (SaaS) in parts of its large software business.

Smart Infrastructure expects for fiscal 2022 comparable revenue growth of 5% to 8%. The profit margin is expected to be 12% to 13%.

Mobility expects for fiscal 2022 comparable revenue growth of 5% to 8%. The profit margin is expected to be 10.0% to 10.5%.

We expect this profitable growth of our industrial businesses to drive an increase in basic EPS from net income before purchase price allocation accounting (EPS pre PPA) to a range of €8.70 to €9.10 [USD$9.97 to 10.43], up from €8.32 [USD$9.53] in fiscal 2021. We assume that rigorous execution of our portfolio optimization strategy will contribute similarly as in fiscal 2021, when we generated €1.5 billion [USD$1.72 billion] in net income from the sale of our Flender business, divestment of our stakes in Bentley Systems, Inc. and ChargePoint Holdings, Inc., and revaluation of our stake in Thoughtworks Holding, Inc.

This outlook excludes burdens from legal and regulatory matters.