6. Siemens Steps up China Growth

Siemens, the German electronics and manufacturing group, has con­tinued to expand rapidly in China over the past year, achieving well over double-digit growth in sales and orders for its core power, transport and industrial automa­tion businesses.

Richard Hausmann, the group's China president, said yesterday Siemens had met its target of growing at about twice the pace of GDP, with sales in the 12 months to September rising 15 per cent year-on-year to Rmb44.3bn ($5.5bn).

Orders grew even faster in the period, by 34 per cent to Rmb56bn, an indication that China's power­ful economic expansion will continue to flow through to the bottom line of major multination­als like Siemens.

"Our growth is very much bal­anced and sustainable, because it is based on the need for infrastruc­ture in China," said Mr Hausmann.

"China remains the top priority for Siemens' businesses - no doubt about it."

Siemens is one of the largest for­eign investors in China, with 70 different businesses, 53 regional offices and 36,000 employees, 3,000 more than in the previous report­ing period.

Mr Hausmann declined to pro­vide figures for profitability for China, but said returns were "rea­sonable", and that the group had gained market share in just about every sector in which it operated.

"We are only doing businesses that are profitable - We are not buying market share," he said.

Siemens' major lines in China are industrial automation, power-generation and transmission, and telecoms infrastructure.

Its transport business received a major boost with the announce­ment in November that it had won the tender to build 60 high-speed trains with its Chinese joint ven­ture partner, an order worth €688m, for the Beijing-Tianjin line.

Siemens is hoping the tender will position it for a larger order of trains for the Shanghai-Beijing line, a contract some commentators have suggested the group's highly com­petitive Japanese rivals would be excluded from for political reasons. But Mr Hausmann discounted this, saying: "I think on the surface it looks political but at the end of the day, it's about performance."

One sector with less stellar results has been automotive parts and systems, where Siemens has suffered from its reliance on VW, the German carmaker, which has lost market share in China.

Siemens also expects a boost when the Chinese government makes a long-awaited announce­ment of licences for 3G mobile technology.

Despite its rapid growth, China still represents only about 6-7 per cent of Siemens' global sales, but it is substantially more important for the company's worldwide sourcing operations.

Vocabulary:

double-digit growth – рост свыше 10%

step up - расширять, увеличивать; усиливать, повышать

to step up production — наращивать производство

to step up efforts — наращивать усилия

economic expansion – экономический рост

bottom line – зд. чистая прибыль; итог баланса доходов и расходов

sustainable growth - устойчивый (экономический) рост

boost - повышение, рост (цен, спроса); поддержка, стимулирование; создание популярности

tax boost - повышение налогов

boost of sale - рост продаж

boost in prices - рост цен

a boost to the economy - стимулирование экономики

rival(s) – конкурент(ы)

at the end of the day - по большому счету; в конце концов, в итоге

performance - результативность, производительность, эффективность; результат

(out)sourcing operations – производственные процессы, передаваемые другим фирмам на условиях подряда

TRANSLATION NOTES:

…with sales in the 12 months to September rising 15 per cent year-on-year to … - причем объем продаж увеличился за 12 месяцев к сентябрю на 15% по сравнению с предыдущим периодом и составил…

Это предложение является примером абсолютной причастной конструкции с предлогом with, который чаще переводится как поскольку, так как и т.д. в зависимости от контекста. (См. часть Ш, раздел 3, § 6, п.6.3)

Rmb= renminbi – женьминби - обобщенное название китайских денег; буквально: "народные деньги"; основная единица RMB – юань

Rmb44.3bn – 44,3 миллиарда юаней