Industrial giant Siemens said on Nov. 10 that net profits soared by 57.6% in its business year just ended on the "outstanding" performance of its key industry and energy sectors.
Siemens, which runs its business year from October to September, said bottom-line net profit jumped to 6.145 billion euros (US$8.3 billion) in the 12 months to September 30.
Pre-tax profit was up 54.7% at 9.242 billion euros on a 6.6% increase in sales to 73.515 billion euros.
New orders rose by 16% to 85.582 billion euros.
"With a strong fourth quarter in a turbulent economic environment, we ended fiscal 2011 with record operating results," said chief executive Peter Loescher.
"In particular, the industry and energy sectors had an outstanding year," he said, naming a 3.7-billion-euro high-speed train order from German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which he said was the "biggest order in our company's history."
In the energy division, "a highlight of the year was winning the Ras Az Zawr power plant project in Saudi Arabia, a contract worth over one billion dollars," Loescher said.
Looking ahead to the current year, the chief executive said "we expect moderate organic revenue growth compared to fiscal 2011, and orders again exceeding revenues."
All divisions were anticipated to put in "strong earnings performances despite ongoing pricing pressure and higher operating expenses," Loescher said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
