*
Plans to raise up to 1.5 bln euros to help fund Gamesa
takeover
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Net loss in Q1 widened to 598 mln euros
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Shares hit four-week low
(Recasts, adds CFO comments, context)
By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Shares in
Siemens Energy fell to their lowest level in four
weeks on Tuesday, hit by a pending potential share issue the
company has flagged to help fund its planned takeover of
troubled wind division Siemens Gamesa .
The maker of onshore and offshore wind turbines has weighed
on Siemens Energy, triggering several profit warnings over
quality issues which the German parent says can more effectively
be tackled via a full integration.
To help fund the bid, Siemens Energy plans to raise a
maximum of 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) "as quickly as
possible", Chief Financial Office Maria Ferraro said as the
group presented first-quarter results that reflected ongoing
issues at the unit.
Quality issues at Siemens Gamesa's installed fleet of
turbines caused Siemens Energy's net loss to more than double to
598 million euros in the October-December quarter, compared with
a loss of 246 million euros a year earlier.
"This has been a hard blow for us," CEO Christian Bruch told
journalists, referring to the 472 million euro charge Siemens
Gamesa unveiled last month due to faulty components that led to
higher warranty and service costs.
Shares in Siemens Energy, which has secured 97.59% of
Siemens Gamesa shares as of Feb. 6, fell 4% on Germany's
blue-chip index.
Siemens Energy will ask shareholders at its annual general
meeting, also taking place on Tuesday, to allow the issuing of
new shares in the future, which sell-side analysts at Deutsche
Bank said will likely be used to raise the needed equity for the
Siemens Gamesa purchase.
The group's order backlog provided a positive note, hitting
a record high 98.8 billion euros as of the end of December,
driven by its grid technology division which recorded a major
win last month.
The group, which was spun off from Siemens in
2020, in presentation slides said the backlog would translate
into 22 billion euros of revenue in 2023, 21 billion in 2024 and
55 billion in 2025.
Service contracts account for more than half of the backlog. ($1 = 0.9334 euros) (Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Additional reporting by Stefanie Geiger; editing by Kylie MacLellan and Jason Neely)
