ZURICH -Siemens has extended the contract of Chief Executive Roland Busch for another five years, the German engineering and technology group said on Tuesday.

Busch, who has led Siemens since 2021, has had his contract extended effective from April 2025, the supervisory board said.

The 59-year-old German, who succeeded Joe Kaeser, led Siemens to its highest net profit to date in 2023 of 8.5 billion euros ($9.23 billion) as it worked through an order backlog built up during the pandemic and its aftermath.

The board said the decision to extend Busch's contract showed its support for his strategy of transforming Siemens into a technology company.

Siemens wants to raise the share of software and digital business sales in the group to around 20% in the long term, Busch said last year, and has switched to software as a service rental model to boost its appeal to smaller customers.

"Siemens has the right strategy and the right leadership team to support future growth and success, building on a track record of outstanding operational execution and technology leadership," Chairman Jim Snabe said in a statement.

Siemens said it would also extend the contract of Cedrik Neike, the head of its Digital Industries factory automation division by five years, from June 2025.

  - Reuters