New orders and revenue slumped at Siemens during the fiscal fourth quarter, and the company hinted on Thursday that more layoffs may be in the offing. Siemens also inched closer to resolving a long-standing bribery scandal, announcing that it had come to terms with a slate of former executives.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Siemens’ revenue was &euro19.7 billion, down 9% from &euro21.7 billion in the prior year. On an annual basis, revenue held nearly steady, easing just 1% to &euro76.7 billion. But in what may be a harbinger of things to come, new orders took a major hit, falling 16% both in the quarter and for the full year. New orders registered nearly &euro79 billion for the year, compared with &euro93.5 billion in fiscal 2008.
The company took a loss of &euro 1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of &euro2.4 billion in Q4 of 2008. For the year, Siemens tallied net income &euro2.5 billion, compared with &euro5.9 billion the previous year.
All geographies for the global conglomerate underperformed against the prior year, with the steepest declines in the Americas and Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, and the Middle East (Europe/CAME).