No Sale on Hearing Aid Biz

Cochlear will not be buying the hearing aid business of Siemens. The German company has dropped its plan to sell the division after failing to get bids of more than $3 billion. One analyst blamed falling profits in the hearing-aid business for the lower bids. Last year's earnings for the Siemens' unit were down 5% from the previous year. For it's part, Cochlear expects a bump in profits of 15% this year, thanks to sales of its new implant, the Nucleas 5.