Siemens Rules Out Mobile Unit IPO for Now
By Paul Carrel Sep 15 4:19am ET COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - The head of Siemens AG's mobile phone division said on Friday the German group has no immediate plans float the fast-growing unit, but left the door open to such a move in the future. Media reports of a potential flotation of the unit refuse to die as investors lick their lips at its fast growth and calculate the value that could be broken out from the wider Siemens group, which is also active in ``old economy'' engineering businesses. But Rudi Lamprecht, president of Siemens' Information and Communication Mobile (ICM) arm, said the unit could operate successfully as a free agent without being split out from the Siemens group. ``At this particular point in time, there are no plans to spin off ICM,'' he said in an interview with Reuters, but added: ''This is the position today. What it could be in the future I can't tell.'' The successful listing of Siemens' Infineon semiconductor unit and Epcos passive components joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co has added to the interest in a flotation of ICM.
COMPETITIVE VALUATION ICM booked sales of 1.9 billion euros ($1.65 billion) in Siemens' third quarter to June 30, with EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) rising to 193 million euros from 123 million in the same quarter the previous year. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney analyst Mark Davies-Jones calculates ICM currently has a value of about 34 billion euros ($29.44 billion) -- about four times Siemens's forecast for ICM 1999/2000 sales of 16 billion marks ($7.08 billion). That compares to a market value of more than eight times forecast 2000 sales for market leader Nokia, almost six times for Ericsson and twice for Motorola. Siemens says it is grabbing market share and is aiming to become one of the world's top three mobile phone makers. Industry research group Dataquest released figures in May showing Siemens in the market share ``also rans,'' which grouped together had 32.8 percent of total sales. Nokia led the way with 27.9 percent, Motorola had 16 percent, Ericsson 11.5 percent, Samsung 6.3 percent and Alcatel 5.5 percent. ``I think we have gained market share in the last couple of months,'' Lamprecht said, adding he thought Siemens's share of the pie was now about six percent.
JOINING FORCES WITH OTHER SIEMENS UNITS Lamprecht said that by remaining within the Siemens group, the ICM unit can bundle its handsets with software provided by the Siemens Business Services division to differentiate itself from competitors. ``I think this is something not many companies can offer to the market. I think we are in a unique position,'' he said. ''This combination works quite nicely and we are positive about it, so why should we give it up?'' The arrival of UMTS third generation mobile phone services -- due to come to market in 2002/3 -- will open up a new range of opportunities for telecoms operators to run their own ''mobile commerce'' activities. The chief of Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit told Reuters on Wednesday he expected his company to generate just 40 percent of its sales in the UMTS era from voice traffic, with 60 percent coming from data traffic. This is where Lamprecht plans to leverage Siemens' expertise in software applications to offer mobile commerce, banking, travel and entertainment services. Lamprecht also plans to further broaden Siemens' range of cellphones, which now includes six models after being limited to just two six months ago. ``Every three months you will see at least one new product coming from Siemens for very specific market segments,'' he said. ``We are not yet at the highest end of the (handset) market and we are not yet at the lowest end of the market. That gives us room to capture market segments.'' Lamprecht added that Siemens would have cellphones for the GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) standard -- a stepping stone to UMTS -- ready for the market ``at the end of this year.'' ($1-1.155 Euro) ($1-2.259 Mark)
Siemens Rules Out Mobile Unit IPO for Now
By Paul Carrel Sep 15 4:19am ET COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - The head of Siemens AG's mobile phone division said on Friday the German group has no immediate plans float the fast-growing unit, but left the door open to such a move in the future. Media reports of a potential flotation of the unit refuse to die as investors lick their lips at its fast growth and calculate the value that could be broken out from the wider Siemens group, which is also active in ``old economy'' engineering businesses. But Rudi Lamprecht, president of Siemens' Information and Communication Mobile (ICM) arm, said the unit could operate successfully as a free agent without being split out from the Siemens group. ``At this particular point in time, there are no plans to spin off ICM,'' he said in an interview with Reuters, but added: ''This is the position today. What it could be in the future I can't tell.'' The successful listing of Siemens' Infineon semiconductor unit and Epcos passive components joint venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co has added to the interest in a flotation of ICM.
COMPETITIVE VALUATION ICM booked sales of 1.9 billion euros ($1.65 billion) in Siemens' third quarter to June 30, with EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) rising to 193 million euros from 123 million in the same quarter the previous year. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney analyst Mark Davies-Jones calculates ICM currently has a value of about 34 billion euros ($29.44 billion) -- about four times Siemens's forecast for ICM 1999/2000 sales of 16 billion marks ($7.08 billion). That compares to a market value of more than eight times forecast 2000 sales for market leader Nokia, almost six times for Ericsson and twice for Motorola. Siemens says it is grabbing market share and is aiming to become one of the world's top three mobile phone makers. Industry research group Dataquest released figures in May showing Siemens in the market share ``also rans,'' which grouped together had 32.8 percent of total sales. Nokia led the way with 27.9 percent, Motorola had 16 percent, Ericsson 11.5 percent, Samsung 6.3 percent and Alcatel 5.5 percent. ``I think we have gained market share in the last couple of months,'' Lamprecht said, adding he thought Siemens's share of the pie was now about six percent.
JOINING FORCES WITH OTHER SIEMENS UNITS Lamprecht said that by remaining within the Siemens group, the ICM unit can bundle its handsets with software provided by the Siemens Business Services division to differentiate itself from competitors. ``I think this is something not many companies can offer to the market. I think we are in a unique position,'' he said. ''This combination works quite nicely and we are positive about it, so why should we give it up?'' The arrival of UMTS third generation mobile phone services -- due to come to market in 2002/3 -- will open up a new range of opportunities for telecoms operators to run their own ''mobile commerce'' activities. The chief of Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit told Reuters on Wednesday he expected his company to generate just 40 percent of its sales in the UMTS era from voice traffic, with 60 percent coming from data traffic. This is where Lamprecht plans to leverage Siemens' expertise in software applications to offer mobile commerce, banking, travel and entertainment services. Lamprecht also plans to further broaden Siemens' range of cellphones, which now includes six models after being limited to just two six months ago. ``Every three months you will see at least one new product coming from Siemens for very specific market segments,'' he said. ``We are not yet at the highest end of the (handset) market and we are not yet at the lowest end of the market. That gives us room to capture market segments.'' Lamprecht added that Siemens would have cellphones for the GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) standard -- a stepping stone to UMTS -- ready for the market ``at the end of this year.'' ($1-1.155 Euro) ($1-2.259 Mark) |
