(Updated with details)
by Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUSSELDORF, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Siemens Energy said on Monday it expects a bigger-than-expected net loss in 2022 on a 200 million-euro charge related to the winding down of its Russian business, while declaring its readiness to continue the maintenance of the turbines of the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 1.
The company, which supplies equipment for the energy sector, said its Russian business operations could be sold or phased out and it was discussing details with authorities.
“Of course, the implementation of these measures is not trivial in the current environment,” said Christian Bruch, chairman of the board of Siemens Energy.
On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the title was down 0.1% at 1:30 p.m., erasing losses of more than 4% in the morning.
Siemens Energy, a spin-off from Siemens that owns a majority stake in wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa, said its annual net loss will exceed that of 2021, which was 560 million euros, due to this expense presented as an exceptional item.
The group previously forecast an annual net loss equivalent to that of last year.
He said in March that he would cease all new business in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, adding that sales there were only a low single-digit percentage. ) of its total turnover of 28.48 billion euros.
Despite the planned withdrawal from Russia, Christian Bruch said Siemens Energy was ready to maintain the turbines at Nord Stream 1’s Portovaya compressor station, if its client Gazprom wanted it.
He also pointed out that the performance of Siemens Gamesa had weighed on Siemens Energy’s quarterly results and that he expected the company’s new management to implement a rigorous turnaround plan.
Siemens Energy plans to buy the balance of the wind turbine specialist that it does not yet own for 4.05 billion euros.
Sources told Reuters last week that Siemens Gamesa was considering cutting 2,500 jobs, or around 9% of its workforce. (Report Christoph Steitz; French version Valentine Baldassari, edited by Kate Entringer)