Siemens net profit up 17.5 per cent; to pursue mergers

Diversified engineering group Siemens Ltd on Thursday said its consolidated net profit rose by 17.53 per cent to Rs704.60 crore for the year ended September 30, 2009. On standalone basis, the net profit stood at Rs1,044.8 crore for the year ended September, up 76 per cent from Rs593.30 crore in the same period last year.
 
However, total income declined to Rs9,360.60 crore for the year ended September against Rs9,739.50 crore in the previous year, Siemens said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
 
The company operates in the energy, lighting, and healthcare sectors. The board of directors at its meeting held today proposed a dividend of Rs5 per share for the year ended 30 September.
 
The board has also approved acquiring the balance 13.85 per cent stake (5.17 lakh shares) in Chennai-based Siemens Building Technologies from Anand Mecheri, Rajeev Mecheri and Avnish Gupta for Rs70 crore; pursuant to which Siemens Building Technologies would merge with Siemens.
 
The proposal is subject to necessary approvals. The board of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, a part of Siemens, would meet on 30 November to consider amalgamation of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics with Siemens, it said.