Siemens suffers profit slump

ELECTRICAL and engineering giant Siemens reported a slump in full-year profits yesterday as write-offs in its mobile phone business helped drag net income down from €3.4 billion to €2.2bn.

Sales grew 7% to €75.4bn for the 12 months to September, while new orders were 11% ahead at €83.8bn, but a decision to discontinue some of its mobile devices operations wiped €810 million off the bottom line.

There was good news, however, from the company’s Irish operations, which employ 280 people in Cork and 500 in Dublin and Belfast, as Irish revenues soared 24% to €215m. New orders were almost 50% higher at €265m.