By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -Siemens Energy plans to hand up to 10 billion euros ($11.5 billion) back to shareholders by the end of 2028, the group said on Thursday, lifting shares to a new all-time high on the back of booming demand for power infrastructure equipment.
Up to 6 billion euros of that will come from a share buyback programme, the company said ahead of a capital markets day in Charlotte, United States, with dividend payments accounting for the rest.
Shares in Siemens Energy, which last week raised its mid-term targets on strong global demand for gas turbines and energy grids, climbed as much as 8.4% to a record high. They were 4% higher at 1239 GMT.
Citi analysts wrote the “strong buyback could help the shares re-rate relative” to GE Vernova, Siemens Energy’s main rival that trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 50 times, compared with Siemens Energy’s 30 times.
Part of this valuation gap has been attributed to generally higher equity multiples in North America, Siemens Energy’s second-biggest market after Europe where it makes around a quarter of revenues.
The boom in demand for power infrastructure, partly driven by the need for data centres to drive AI technology, will also result in around 2 billion euros of investments in Siemens Energy’s network of transformer and switchgear plants by 2028.
($1 = 0.8687 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff, Editing by Miranda Murray and Madeline Chambers)
