Siemens AG has announced that CEO Peter Loscher will resign from his position at the end of the day Wednesday and leave the company's managing board by mutual consent. In addition, the company has revealed bleak third-quarter 2013 (Q3'13) financial results.
Joe Kaeser, chief financial officer (CFO) of the company since 2006, has been designated Siemens' new president and CEO, effective Aug. 1. The company says a new CFO will be appointed shortly.
The change of leadership comes after Siemens announced last week that it will not meet its planned "Total Sectors profit margin of at least 12 percent by fiscal 2014." The company cited "lower market expectations."
Loscher, who took office in July 2007, will continue to assist the company in the processing of open topics until Sept. 30. Siemens says he will also remain associated with the company and perform a number of duties – e.g., chairing the Board of Trustees of the Siemens Stiftung – at the request and in the interest of the company.
‘It would be fatal for the future of Siemens and its employees if the successful course we've adopted in order to reorient the company, the clarification of past errors, the return to profitable growth and the establishment of a new company culture were called into question by a loss of mutual trust. The interests of individuals – including my own – must take second place to the well-being of Siemens as a whole,’ says Loscher.
Kaeser has announced his plans going forward as the new CEO: ‘Our company is certainly not in crisis, nor is it in need of major restructuring. However, we've been too preoccupied with ourselves lately and have lost some of our profit momentum vis-Ã -vis our competitors. My declared aim is to put Siemens back on an even keel and create a high-performance team."
In its Q3'13 financial results, released Wednesday, Siemens reports that its Total Sectors profit was EUR 1.3 billion, a 31% drop from EUR 1.8 billion in Q3'12.
The company's profits for its Wind Power division dropped from EUR 66 million in Q3'12 to EUR 22 million in Q3'13. According to Siemens, the Wind division was impacted by EUR 91 million in charges "related to the inspection and retrofitting of onshore wind turbines."
Earlier this year, the company globally curtailed all of its turbines with B53 rotor blades after two separate incidents in which a blade broke off. The blades are used primarily on SWT-2.3-108 turbines in the U.S. Siemens has since cited an adhesive bonding failure as the root cause and is making upgrades to or replacing existing turbines with the blade type.
