This morning on 13.01. Siemens AG has published $SIE (-0,45%) published its figures for Q1 - 2025. Enclosed you will find my comprehensive classification of the annual report [1] and also the transcript of the earnings call [2].
- As always, I try to write as clearly as possible. I have made every effort to check all data carefully and to support all statements with sources.
- Current share in my portfolio after getquin Deepdive at just under 2.5%, also as an individual share.
📅 First of all, the context: Why is Q1 2025 already being reported?
Siemens has a different financial year that begins on October 1. This means that Q1 covers the period from October 1 to December 31, 2024 in fiscal year 2025.
Q1 - 2025 vs. estimates
[3]
Overview: Good figures with some challenges
Siemens was able to slightly increase its revenue in the first quarter of 2025, with profit even growing by over 50%. One important reason for this is a special gain from the sale of Innomotics, a former Siemens subsidiary for drive technology [1].
The most important figures at a glance:
- Turnover+3% to €18.4 billion
- Incoming orders: -7 % to € 20.1 billion
- Profit after tax: +52% to € 3.9 billion (incl. special effect - excluded from EBIT above*1)
- Free cash flow: +51% to € 1.6 billion
👉 Without the special effect from the Innomotics sale (€ 2.1 billion profit), the profit would have been significantly lower [1].
Profit from continuing operations in Q1 2025 amounted to € 1.801 billion and in Q1 2024 the figure was € 2.569 billion. This corresponds to a decrease of 30 % [1].
Classification of the decline in profit compared to the previous year:
1️⃣ Q1 2024 had a one-time positive effect of €500 million from the transfer of Siemens Energy shares to the Siemens Pension Trust. This effect will no longer apply in 2025.
2️⃣ Digital Industries recorded a significant decline in profits, primarily due to the fall in sales in the automation business (-24%).
3️⃣ Additional restructuring costs had a negative impact on earnings.
👉 Without the positive one-off effect from 2024, the decline would not have been quite as severe, but the difficult situation at Digital Industries still had a clear impact [1].
Another highlight: The order backlog reached a new record of €118 billion, even though incoming orders fell in Q1 [2]. - 118 billion € - insane! 🤯
How does the decline compare to the record?
Siemens has many large long-term orders that are not processed immediately. Even if fewer new orders come in during a quarter, the total number of open orders remains high [1].
Why has order intake fallen?
The decline is partly due to the fact that particularly large Mobility orders were concluded in the previous year. At the same time, macroeconomic uncertainties and a weaker willingness to invest in Europe and China are influencing order intake [2].
🏷️ What is behind the sale of Innomotics?
Innomotics was a Siemens subsidiary for large electric motors, drives and industrial drive systems, important for sectors such as energy, chemicals and infrastructure. Siemens sold the business because it no longer fitted in with its core business.
- The sale generated €3.1 billion in liquidity, which strengthened Siemens' financial position.
- The resulting special gain of €2.1 billion after tax significantly raises the profit for this quarter.
The Siemens Groups at a glance
Share of total sales:
- Digital Industries: 22,1%
- Smart Infrastructure: 28,8%
- Mobility: 16,2%
- Siemens Healthineers: 29,9%
- Siemens Financial Services: 0,5%
Reconciliation & Other: 2,5%
-> includes consolidation adjustments and intercompany effects
📊 Digital Industries (Automation & Software)
What does this area do?
Siemens is a global leader in industrial automation and software for factories. This involves robot control systems, production software and automation solutions for the automotive, pharmaceutical and electronics industries, for example.
Incoming orders+6 % to € 4.2 billion
Turnover: -11% to € 4.1 billion
Earnings: -34% to € 588 million
Why are things going badly?
Although automation is seen as the industry of the future, there is currently a decline in sales due to low capacity utilization and destocking by customers.
Factory automation is particularly affected with a decline of -24% (e.g. for mechanical engineering or semiconductors).
Customers have invested massively in recent years and are now reducing inventories, which partly explains the lack of sales, but at the same time customers are placing new orders for the period after the existing inventories have been reduced [2]
The software business (+15%) is also generating new orders and is growing strongly, even though representative sales in the automation sector are declining [2].
However, China is showing initial signs of recovery, which could help in the medium term.
🏡 Smart Infrastructure (energy & building technology)
What does this area do?
It's all about energy supply, building automation and infrastructure. Siemens helps companies to work more efficiently and sustainably, from smart buildings to energy grid feed-in.
Known products/services:
- Charging stations for electric cars
- Building management systems for smart office buildings
- Switchgear for power grids
Incoming orders+6 % to € 6.2 billion
Turnover: +10 % to € 5.3 billion
EarningsStable at € 891 million
👉 Demand for data center infrastructure and energy solutions was particularly strong -> USA (+17%) and Middle East particularly strong [2].
🚆 Mobility (railroad & transport infrastructure)
What does this sector do?
Siemens builds and maintains trains, rail infrastructure and signaling technology. This is about fast, efficient and sustainable mobility systems.
Well-known products/services:
- ICE trains for Deutsche Bahn
- Metro systems for major cities
- Digital interlockings for railroad lines
Incoming orders: -53 % to € 2.7 billion
Turnover+10 % to € 3.0 billion
EarningsStable at € 249 million
Why have incoming orders fallen so sharply?
👉 The same quarter of the previous year contained huge major orders, e.g. for the railroads in Germany & Austria.
👉 There will still be orders in 2025, but not on this scale - a purely statistical effect.
🏥 Siemens Healthineers $SHL (+0,45%)
(medical technology)*2
What does this division do?
Siemens is a leader in medical and diagnostic technology. The company supplies imaging systems, laboratory diagnostics and digital health solutions.
Known products/services:
- MRI & CT devices for hospitals
- Laboratory diagnostics for blood tests & cancer research
- AI-supported diagnostic software
Incoming orders+13 % to € 6.3 billion
Turnover: +6 % to € 5.5 billion
Earnings: +14 % to € 789 million
👉 The Imaging business (MRI & CT) is doing particularly well.
💰 Siemens Financial Services (Finance Division)
What does this division do?
Siemens offers leasing and financing services, e.g. for companies that want to modernize their infrastructure.
Known products/services:
- Leasing for medical technology
- Project financing for renewable energies
- Industrial investments
ResultDecrease from € 260 million to € 113 million
Why this decline?
👉 In the same quarter of the previous year, Siemens sold an investment that generated a one-off profit of €131 million.
Without this one-off effect, earnings would have remained stable.
Conclusion:
- Siemens Healthineers is the largest division, accounting for just under 30% of total sales.
- Smart Infrastructure (Energy & Building Automation) follows with 28.8%, driven by high demand in the USA.
- Digital Industries (Automation & Software) contributes 22.1%, but is struggling with weak demand in factory automation.
- Mobility (Trains & Infrastructure) accounts for 16.2%, but is suffering from the sharp decline in order intake.
- Siemens Financial Services remains a small but profitable division (0.5% share of sales)
🍃 Indirect connection to Siemens Energy $ENR (-4,27%)
Siemens still holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, but has transferred parts of it to Siemens Pension-Trust e.V. This resulted in a one-off profit of €500 million in Q1 2024, which increased Siemens' earnings at the time [4].
👉 This year, this effect is missing. Siemens Energy also remains challenging: the wind power business (Gamesa) is struggling with production problems and anti-dumping duties [5].
Anti-dumping duty in the USA:
The USA recently (28/01/25) imposed an anti-dumping duty of 28.55% on wind tower components from Siemens Gamesa and Windar Renovables. This affects components manufactured in Spain and could affect Siemens Gamesa's competitiveness in the important US market [5].
🤝 Altair takeover: Siemens strengthens its software business
With the acquisition of Altair Engineering for around 10 billion US dollars, Siemens has taken a significant step towards strengthening its software & AI portfolio.
- Altair represents a significant expansion in the area of simulation technologies and machine learning and is expected to support Siemens in further expanding its position as a leading provider of industrial software.
- This acquisition is part of Siemens' strategy to drive digital transformation and create the most comprehensive AI-powered design and simulation portfolio in the world [6].
Prospects
Altair acquisition
- The acquisition is expected to increase Siemens' digital business revenue by €600 million and have a long-term positive impact of over one billion dollars annually [6].
- This strategic investment is expected to accelerate the digital and sustainable transformation of Siemens' customers by connecting the real and digital worlds.
- The acquisition process is still under regulatory review and could be completed by the end of 2025.
📌 AI & Industry 4.0: Siemens remains a pioneer [2]
Siemens is actively driving the introduction of industrial AI:
- Use of digital twins & AI to increase efficiency (e.g. Red Bull Racing, smart factories in Erlangen & Chengdu).
- Acquisition of Altair to strengthen the software business.
- Major projects such as Jet Zero (AI-supported aircraft design to reduce fuel consumption).
[7]
📌 Sustainability & decarbonization [2]
Siemens actively helps customers to reduce their CO₂ emissions:
- Products from 2024 save over 144 million tons of CO₂ over their lifetime.
- Own CO₂ emissions already reduced by 60% since 2019, target for 2025 achieved ahead of schedule.
🔮Outlook for 2025 [2]:
- Macroeconomic uncertainties remain, but Siemens confirms 3-7% sales growth.
- The order backlog provides stability, but growth also depends on industrial automation.
- AI & software as growth drivers, especially with Altair.
- Siemens focuses on decarbonization to open up new business areas.
🧠Fazit: light and shade in the first quarter
Siemens got off to a strong start in the first quarter of 2025, driven by solid revenue growth and an impressive rise in profits thanks to the Innomotics sale.
Despite a decline in order intake, especially in areas such as Mobility, the order backlog remains robust.
The strategic acquisition of Altair and the focus on AI and industrial digitalization position Siemens very well for the future.
The company is also showing a clear focus on sustainability and decarbonization.
With a stable foundation and a positive outlook for 2025, Siemens remains on a promising growth path, even if macroeconomic uncertainties persist.
I am holding my position for the long term and am excited to see where the journey takes us.
Thank you for reading 🤝
- Which areas do you find most exciting?
_________
*1
(The discrepancy of approx. 260 million between EBIT + sale of Innomotics and profit after tax is primarily due to interest and tax expenses)
*2
Siemens Healthineers is a majority holding of Siemens AG. This means that Siemens still has control over Healthineers, but the company is listed independently on the stock exchange.
📌 Important facts about the relationship between Siemens and Siemens Healthineers:
- Spun off in 2017 & listed on the stock exchange in 2018, but Siemens still holds a majority stake of around 75%.
- Independent company with a focus on medical technology (MRI, CT, laboratory diagnostics, AI-supported healthcare solutions).
- Siemens Healthineers has its own financial reports & strategy, but most of the profits flow back to Siemens.
👉 In short: Siemens Healthineers operates independently, but Siemens continues to call the shots as the main shareholder and benefits financially from the company's success
_________
Sources:
[1] https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:5977f44e-8153-4cf9-b47c-a7cc3846781b/2025-q1-earnings-release-de.pdf
[2] https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/cc7ttbkc/
[3] https://web.quartr.com/companies/3485
[4] https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-transfers-8-percent-stake-siemens-energy-ag-siemens-pension-fund
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/earnings-release-and-financial-results-q1-fy-2024
[5] https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2025-02-10/ee-uu-fija-un-arancel-antidumping-del-2855-para-las-torres-eolicas-de-siemens-gamesa-y-windar.html
[6] https://m.focus.de/finanzen/boerse/uebernahme-als-meilenstein-siemens-verspricht-sich-von-altair-uebernahme-hunderten-millionen-euro_id_260442962.html
[7] https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:e5bbbc23-01c9-4214-a050-0c671b3e9d6b/2025-q1-presentation-en.pdf