The Siemens Group of Companies, headquartered in Berlin and Munich, is one of the world's largest electrical engineering and electronics companies. Sustainability has been a distinctive feature of Siemens since the company was founded. At Siemens, sustainability means long-term economic success as well as the environmental awareness and social responsibility of a good corporate citizen.In the 2005 fiscal year (ended Sept. 30), the company employed some 461,000 people worldwide and achieved sales of 75,445 million euros and net income of 3,058 million euros. Eighty percent of those sales came from outside Germany.
Siemens is a large international company with operations in more than 190 countries and some 600 plants, research and development centers and sales offices worldwide. The company's business is focused on six main areas: information and communications, automation and control, power, transportation, medical systems and lighting. Siemens' global business operations are organized into 13 business groups, including Siemens Financial Services Ltd. and Siemens Premises Asset Management Group. In addition, Siemens has two joint ventures, Bosch-Siemens Home Appliances Group and Fujitsu Siemens Computers (Holdings) Inc.
Siemens has a well-established portfolio of businesses in the fields of electrical engineering and electronics. Siemens' business activities are influenced by a variety of regional and industry factors. With the exception of international businesses (such as the Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Medical Systems and Transportation Technologies Groups, which generally have long business cycles), other areas of business (such as the Consumer Products business of the Communications Group and OSRAM, and the Capital Goods business of the Automation and Drives Group) are susceptible to short-term business trends and prevailing economic conditions. The favorable business mix helped Siemens to cope with the severe challenges posed by the difficult business environment in fiscal 2005. In addition, Siemens' business areas are well positioned to reflect the megatrends of the future. Siemens is currently developing new solutions to meet future challenges from the fields of health, energy, water treatment, communications, transportation, security, logistics and automation.
As a global company, Siemens takes full advantage of the synergies of its diverse business portfolio, which is guided by the company's overall strategy, with a clear structure and a clear division of responsibilities, and actively creates value on the ground. The company's traditional strengths are its ability to innovate, its customer focus, its global presence and its financial strength. Siemens' business activities are centered on the global electrical market, which in 2005 amounted to EUR 2,690 billion. With the current cooling of the world economy, the growth of the global electrical and electronics market is expected to decline slightly in 2006. However, with its growth rate of nearly 7.5%, the market will still maintain its long-term growth momentum.
Innovation is a top priority for a world-class company in the field of electrical engineering and electronics, which invested 5.2 billion euros in research and development (R&D) in 2005 in order to stay at the forefront of technology. in the 2004 financial year, Siemens' R&D staff*** realized some 8,800 inventions, an increase of 7 percent over the previous year, of which two-thirds were patented. In the field of patents, Siemens topped the list in Germany, ranked second in Europe, and was among the top ten in the United States. The majority of Siemens' nearly 47,000 research and development employees work on software projects, making Siemens one of the largest software development organizations in the world. Siemens is also committed to continuously increasing its range of services, solutions and systems to further round out its product portfolio.
Siemens' transparent and accountable management and control system is a guarantee of the company's sustained growth and an indispensable condition for Siemens and its business policies to gain and maintain credibility. Siemens has always attached great importance to respecting and protecting the rights of its shareholders, always providing them with timely and unobtrusive information about the company, ensuring close cooperation between the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, and always adhering to international and national regulations. As a good corporate citizen, we are also committed to helping improve the living standards of the people in the countries in which we operate, supporting the education and training of the younger generation, alleviating social problems and promoting local arts and culture.
With more than 900,000 shareholders, Siemens is one of the world's largest publicly traded companies. More than 55% of the company's share capital is raised outside Germany. Since March 2001, Siemens shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Siemens China
Siemens China is the main pillar of the Siemens Group's business in the Asia-Pacific region and plays an increasingly important role in Siemens' global business. All Siemens business groups have entered China and are active in various industries such as information and communication, automation and control, power, transportation, healthcare, lighting and household appliances, with their core business areas being infrastructure development and industrial solutions.
Siemens is an integral part of China's economy and is committed to being a trusted partner in the completion of China's major infrastructure development and industrial modernization, with some of the most advanced technologies currently in use in China coming from Siemens. Siemens technology can provide China with economical, efficient and environmentally friendly energy; fast, safe and comfortable public transportation; reliable, high-speed and cost-effective communications; and medical equipment for fast, accurate and effective diagnosis and treatment, as well as automation solutions to help various industrial sectors increase production, efficiency and competitiveness.
By 2003, Siemens had established 28 local offices and more than 40 joint ventures in China, with long-term investments totaling more than 5.4 billion yuan (about 655 million euros.) Sales for the 2003 fiscal year (from Oct. 1, 2002, to Sept. 30, 2003) amounted to 30.1 billion yuan (about 3.3 billion euros), and new orders exceeded 31.3 billion RMB (approx. 3.5 billion EUR) in new orders. Siemens is one of the largest foreign companies investing in China with 21,000 employees. In order to maintain the momentum of good growth, Siemens will continue to increase its investment in China and vigorously promote the localization process, continuously strengthening local R&D, increasing local project implementation, improving local procurement and enhancing local management.
Siemens' Information & Communications (I&C) business comprises three groups: Information & Communications Networks (ICN), Information & Mobile Communications (Siemens Mobile) and Siemens Business Services (SBS). With a wide range of integrated solutions, Siemens I&C is an independent provider of all key information and communication technologies, applications and services. Siemens I&C's business in China started in 1985, and since then Siemens has successfully participated in the construction of China's communication infrastructure, especially mobile communication systems and transmission backbone networks.