ENGINEERING group Siem-ens posted a 39 per cent rise in annual profits yesterday, despite a software fault in a new line of mobile phones.
The German company, which employs about 20,000 people in the UK, including 120 call centre staff at a site in Durham, also experienced design problems with trams running in a number of European countries.
However, improved performances by ten of its 13 divisions - including medical solutions and power generation - lifted net income to £2.39bn in the year to September 30.
Siemens, whose divisions include telephone and communication systems, automotives and financial services, has more than 120 sites in the UK in locations including Birmingham, Newcastle, Milton Keynes and Manchester.
About a quarter of its UK staff are involved in manufacturing, producing items such as industrial turbines and devices for medical scanners.
The company, which employs 430,000 people worldwide, said that as well as the software fault in the handsets, the mobile division suffered competitive pressures that reduced the average selling price of phones.
The operation posted losses of £106m against profits of £19m last time.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article