Siemens 2014 Annual Report Download - page 110


Berlin and Munich, December , 
In fiscal , we worked hard, we were highly focused, and we achieved a great
deal. Despite a complex geopolitical situation, our overall results for the year were
very good. We increased profit by  %, tackled a great many issues and improved
our operations, even though in some areas we could have been even more success-
ful. Above all, we gave our Company a new setup based on our Vision  and
defined the direction we’ll be taking in the years ahead.
We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far, particularly because the circumstances
have been anything but favorable: global economic development was very uneven
in fiscal , and with more than  critical hotspots around the world, political
uncertainties were greater than they’d been in decades. That’s why we were right
when we decided not to pin our hopes on a global economic recovery but to exploit
our own strengths.
For fiscal , we reported net income of € . billion, with revenue totaling
€ . billion and orders € . billion. We thus reached the targets we’d originally
set for the year and exceeded our goal for profit development while making sub-
stantial progress in strengthening our portfolio. These achievements will enable us
to propose a dividend of € . to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. Siemens is
and will remain a good investment. We stand for a long-term, reliable and attractive
dividend policy and will remain a company with a rock-solid financial basis.
Nevertheless, our performance could have been even better. The high charges
on which we again focused considerable attention in fiscal  are not what
Siemens stands for. We’re working hard to improve our risk management, and
we expect to see successes already in fiscal .
Fiscal  was a year of upheaval for our Company. Our Company-wide Vision 
concept is paving the way to the future. Vision  defines a clear strategic direc-
tion for the “new Siemens.” We’re positioning our Company in strategically attractive
growth fields and demonstrating a clear focus as we gear our setup to these fields.
A. Letter to our Shareholders