Siemens may get out of Mobile phone business

[Fire14]

Siemens To Decide On Handsets By End Jan - Handelsblatt
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- Siemens AG (SI) aims to make a decision on the future of its hard-pressed handset business by the end of January, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported Wednesday, citing an interview with the company's chief executive.

"I hope that we can say something on this at the annual shareholder meeting on Jan. 27," CEO Heinrich von Pierer is quoted as saying in a pre-release of an article to appear Thursday.

Siemens - the world's fourth-largest handset maker - is considering all options for the mobile phone business, including restructuring, closing, selling or shunting it into a cooperation, Von Pierer told Handelsblatt.

On speculation that Siemens could sell the handset business and leave the buyer with the Siemens brand name, von Pierer said: "The Siemens brand is a valuable one. We treat it very carefully."

The Munich-based company's handset business generated sales of almost EUR5 billion and a loss of EUR152 million in the 2004 fiscal year.

Company Web site: http://www.xxx

-Berlin Bureau; Dow Jones Newswires; +49 30 2888 410; djnews.berlin@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires




Posted on 29-12-2004

Read this article on the web at: www.cellular-news.com/story/11563.shtml

[ShoresGuy]

Wow what a shame should they decide to leave the market. I think that they can give some of the other market leaders a run for their money especially since their new handset designs (i.e. S65/S65) look better than some of the basic Nokia models (5140 etc).

[AnthroMatt]

Any company responsible for the CF62 should be banned from making phones.

[Scrumhalf]

The handset sector is brutally competitive and in this age where corporate profits and earnings per share are so important, any division that racks up a 152 million euro loss is going to be looked at very carefully by the company brass. Maybe they realized that it was going to be hard to get the hanset division into the black anytime soon (if ever).

[Fire14]

Here is an update as of today:

Story as compiled from WirelessIQ
www.wirelessiq.info
----------------------------------------------------



Siemens Denies Rumors It Plans To Sell Mobile Phone Business

January 20, 2005 | 11:41 AM

According to a report by Die Welt in Germany, Ralf Heckmann, head of Siemens's works council, denies rumors that the company is planning to sell its loss-making mobile handset production operations outright.

"Discussions are ongoing," Heckmann told the newspaper. "We are not talking about a sale of the unit, but discussing overall problems within the Communications unit."

“The handset department is very small and Siemens overall is very large. A sale of the handset division would have little to no impact on the company. If they were to sell, a significant portion of their handset customer base would naturally float to Nokia. Still, it is not likely that Siemens will throw in the towel after a single bad year,” says Brian Pellegrini, Wireless Analyst with ABI Research.

Siemens is expected to make a major announcement about its plans for the business at the Jan 27 AGM.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Here is an update as of today:

Story as compiled from WirelessIQ
www.wirelessiq.info
----------------------------------------------------



Siemens Denies Rumors It Plans To Sell Mobile Phone Business

January 20, 2005 | 11:41 AM

According to a report by Die Welt in Germany, Ralf Heckmann, head of Siemens's works council, denies rumors that the company is planning to sell its loss-making mobile handset production operations outright.

"Discussions are ongoing," Heckmann told the newspaper. "We are not talking about a sale of the unit, but discussing overall problems within the Communications unit."

“The handset department is very small and Siemens overall is very large. A sale of the handset division would have little to no impact on the company. If they were to sell, a significant portion of their handset customer base would naturally float to Nokia. Still, it is not likely that Siemens will throw in the towel after a single bad year,” says Brian Pellegrini, Wireless Analyst with ABI Research.

Siemens is expected to make a major announcement about its plans for the business at the Jan 27 AGM.

Another story with essentially the same info. This one talks more about rumors that they were selling the division.

Siemens Denies Sale Rumors

Yesterday, 4:06 PM source: Forbes

In an effort to squash ongoing rumors, Siemens has stated that they are not looking to sell their mobile phone division, despite its poor financial performance. The head of Siemens' Works Council, Ralf Heckmann, said "We are not talking about the sale of the unit, but discussing overall problems within the Communications unit," referring to ongoing meetings at the company. An official announcement regarding their decision is expected January 27 at the annual shareholders' meeting. This week Siemens has been plagued by rumors first that they were shutting down their mobile division, then that they were selling the division to LG. Today LG also denied that is in talks with Siemens, saying it has no interest in buying the German handset maker. Last month Ningbo Bird, which manufactures some Siemens phones, also had to deny it was in talks to buy Siemens' mobile business.

[ShoresGuy]

If Siemens is talking about overhauling their entire communications division, then the loss must be expansive. They are also one of the leading cordless phone manufacturers here in Germany.