MUNICH, Germany-Siemens AG basked in its fiscal-year 2004 earnings with a net a income of $4.38 billion, although its fourth-quarter picture was not so glorious.
For the quarter, the company had a net income of $844 million compared with $934 million in the year-ago period.
“Fiscal 2004 was a very successful year for Siemens,” said Chief Executive Officer Heinrich v. Pierer. “Most of our groups delivered impressive results, including strong volume growth and double-digit earnings growth, thanks to successful implementation of our ‘Go for profit and growth’ initiative.”
Siemens’ mobile business also saw good business, although it was tilted more toward its infrastructure business, which had earnings of $511 million on sales of $6.3 billion. In the prior year, it earned $149 million on sales of $5.5 billion.
In the handset area, Siemens sold 51.1 million handsets for the year as against 39.1 million handsets the previous year. The mobile-phone business posted a loss of $196 million on sales of $6.3 billion compared with earnings of $34.8 million on sales of $5.6 billion in the prior year.
Pierer cited challenges from a weakening dollar and rising commodity prices for some of its challenges during the year.
