Siemens boss Joe Kaeser: departure in the shadow of Jeff Bezos

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Joe Kaeser: Anyone who grows so strongly "must have done something right"

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Matthias Balk / dpa

Joe Kaeser spent months preparing for his departure.

With the spin-off from Siemens Energy, the manager saw his task as fulfilled.

But the CEO of Siemens should not have expected that another top manager would steal the show with his announcement of his retirement, just in time for his last general meeting with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

The newly restructured German global corporation presented strong business figures in the first quarter of the new financial year and adjusted its forecast.

Despite the corona pandemic, the technology group raised its expectations for the current 2020/21 financial year (as of the end of September) as follows: The profit after tax should be increased by at least a fifth to 5.0 to 5.5 (2019/20: 4.2 ) Billion euros are increasing.

So far, the board had only expected a plus of up to five percent.

Two thirds of travel costs saved

On a comparable basis, sales are expected to increase by a medium to high single-digit percentage; here too, the expectation so far was moderate growth.

"I am grateful to be able to hand over such a strong company to the new management team," said Kaeser, who officially handed over the chief position to physicist Roland Busch after the virtual general meeting.

Anyone who has grown so strongly compared to a quarter of the previous year that was still pandemic-free, "must have done something right," Kaeser praised his work.

Despite a complex environment, the team delivered an excellent performance, and the "enormous efforts of the past" were worth it.

With the departure from Kaeser after 40 years in the group and seven years at the top, "an era is coming to an end," said the chairman of the supervisory board Jim Hagemann Snabe.

He described the 63-year-old as one of the Group's greatest leaders.

Kaeser had "shaped Siemens like few others and left a strong foundation for future generations."

Read more here

: Big Joe's Troubled Legacy.

Busch has been in control of operations since October.

"We got off to a very good start," said the 56-year-old.

After the radical restructuring of the group with the split into three listed companies, the supervisory board now expects stronger growth in the core business from Busch.

Some industries such as the automotive sector and mechanical engineering have recovered much faster than expected, said Busch.

Demand increased in December in particular, and business in China and Germany went better than expected.

Lower expenses also contributed to the good group results.

As a result of the pandemic, travel costs fell by almost two thirds.

In the same quarter of the previous year they were still hit with around 270 million euros.

"I am grateful to be able to hand over such a strong company to the new management team," said the outgoing CEO, Joe Kaeser.

Anyone who is growing so strongly compared to a quarter of the previous year that was still pandemic-free, “must have done something right,” he emphasized.

The “enormous efforts of the past” would have been worth it.

Siemens' sales rose in the first fiscal quarter from October to December, adjusted for exchange rate effects, by seven percent to 14.07 billion euros, and incoming orders even by 15 percent to 15.94 billion euros.

The operating result (Ebita) in the industrial business soared as expected by 39 percent to 2.13 billion euros.

The bottom line was a profit of 1.50 (1.09) billion euros.

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apr / dpa / Reuters