Siemens Gamesa announces record losses ahead of de-listing

Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa said Thursday that it had made a record loss of nearly one billion euros in the 2022 financial year, in its last update before it de-lists from the stock market.

The energy group, which is a subsidiary of the German firm Siemens Energy, lost 940 million euros ($935 million) over the year from October 1 to September 30.

In its results, the German-Spanish group said it had ended “a particularly complex fiscal year” in what it called an “extremely challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical context.”

“Fiscal year 2022 was definitely a very difficult one,” said Siemens Gamesa’s CEO, Jochen Eickholt.

It had already announced in September that 2,900 jobs would be cut worldwide — about 11 percent of its total workforce — in efforts to boost its profitability.

In the spring, Siemens Energy launched a vast strategic plan called Mistral, which should result in the purchase in the coming weeks of the 33 percent of Siemens Gamesa that it does not already hold, to take it private.

Eickholt said he believed the group had now “set the stage to deliver profitable growth” with the planned restructuring.

“Before we get there, we have a transition year ahead of us, still impacted by elevated inflation, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical risks,” he warned.

Siemens Gamesa — created from the merger in 2017 of the Spanish Gamesa and the wind energy division of Siemens — has been facing difficulties for years linked to soaring commodity prices and increased competition from low-priced rivals particularly from China.

Eickholt also warned that inflation and the wider geopolitical situation “could jeopardise the energy transition — unless there is a clear commitment from policymakers and authorities to treat the industry as having the greatest strategic importance.”

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