Siemens hikes growth targets as it continues pivot toward tech
- German industrial giant Siemens has presented a new growth strategy.
- It wants to "accelerate high-value growth as a focused technology company."
- It raised revenue growth targets and announced a share buyback program.
German industrial giant Siemens on Thursday presented a new growth strategy, in which it said it will continue to pivot toward developing and advancing its digital tech business.
"Digitalization, automation and sustainability are growth engines for our business," Chief Executive Roland Busch said in a statement Thursday as the company announced its intention to "accelerate high-value growth as a focused technology company."
Presenting its new growth strategy ahead of its investor day, Siemens said that following the spin off of Siemens Energy in 2020, the company is now a "focused technology company that is addressing industry, infrastructure, transportation, and healthcare" that sees "the digital transformation as a key challenge."
"As a result, Siemens is active in sectors that form the backbone of the global economy and offer great potential for digital transformation and enhanced sustainability – the major challenges of our time."
Speaking to CNBC's Annette Weisbach Thursday, Busch added that there were three main points of focus for his firm. "We have very strong technology which obliviously is demanded, we saw that in the crisis a huge demand of digitalization as well as sustainability, which helps us. We combine it with deep knowhow in our ecosystem. Secondly ... We have a very strong digital business and a core business, and they leverage each other in a virtuous cycle again and again. And last but not least, execution, we are focusing on capital allocation, on reducing complexity and cost, and of course cash flow," he said.
Siemens noted that it can leverage its technology portfolio to "support the public and private sectors in the digital transformation of industrial operations, building and grid infrastructure, transportation, and healthcare, while offering innovative solutions with a compelling business case to drive the transition to a carbon-neutral economy."
Siemens said it's aiming to achieve comparable annual group revenue growth of 5-7%, up from a previous target of 4-5%, over its business cycle of three to five years.
"As a result, the company plans to grow at a rate that clearly outpaces the market," the company noted.
It also announced that it will launch a new five-year share buyback program of up to 3 billion euros ($3.58 billion) that begins in 2022.