Siemens, the German engineering company, has commenced a new round of negotiations with Iran on expansion of cooperation in the country’s petrochemical industry.
A group of Siemens' senior executives had reportedly traveled to Tehran last week to discuss ties with a host of officials and bodies, including the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation, Mehr News Agency reported.
One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient and resource-saving technologies, Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe with branch offices worldwide.
The two sides have mainly discussed subjects, including raising bilateral cooperation and increasing activities of the German firm in Iran's petrochemical sector, equipping domestic complexes, supplying technical parts and setting up management and technical systems of the industry, the report said.
According to the company’s website, as of September 2015, it had around 348,000 employees in more than 200 countries. In fiscal 2015, it earned €75.6 billion ($85.3 billion).
German companies have been the most eager visitors to Iran in the post-sanctions era, as they are projected to make over $12 billion in investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry.
Jamshid Sabzkar, Mobin Petrochemical Company’s managing director, told IRNA in late April that it was holding negotiations with Siemens and another German company Linde Group to carry out and invest in Iran's petrochemical projects.
“Linde has expressed readiness to take over development plans in Iran’s petrochemical industry and is also keen on investing in some projects,” he said.
The official stressed that Linde is also ready to purchase the petrochemical output of those units.
Linde Group, founded in Germany in 1879, is a multinational industrial gases and engineering company. It is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue.
Majid Baten, the head of petrochemical association for international affairs, added that currently 70% of Iran's petrochemical machinery are manufactured by Linde and Siemens and said negotiations revolved around the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment, including compressors and control machinery, from the German giants.
Siemens’ Current Financial Status
Siemens has raised its profit outlook for the second time this year, indicating that its broad restructuring efforts are paying off despite tough conditions, Financial Times reported.
Shares in Europe’s largest industrial conglomerate rose more than 4%, to a 12-month high, earlier this month after it revealed that big orders in Europe and the Americas had pushed third-quarter sales figures beyond forecasts.
Higher revenues were driven by double-digit growth in power and gas—Siemens’ largest unit by sales—as well as in wind power and renewables, providing some optimism that expansion in the area had been well-timed.
Of the company’s nine divisions, eight met their margin targets last quarter, the exception being its Process Industries and Drives Division where weak demand in commodity-related industries pulled revenues down 3%.
In February, the company cut or transferred to other countries more than 1,000 jobs at a unit, belonging to the process division, that makes gear for oil drillers and mining companies, as low oil prices have depressed capital spending.
