BERLIN, May 7 — German industrial giant Siemens said Friday that it was raising its earnings forecast for the current year after net profit more than trebled in the second quarter.

Siemens, which makes products ranging from trains to factory equipment, said in a statement that it booked bottom-line net profit of €2.4 billion (RM12 billion) in the period from January to March, up from €697 million a year earlier.

Underlying or operating profit rose by 31 per cent to €2.1 billion as revenues increased by nine per cent to €14.7 billion and orders were up 11 per cent at €15.9 billion. 

"As our order intake and revenue in the second quarter impressively demonstrate, our customers place great trust in us,” said chief executive Roland Busch. 

"Growth momentum came, in particular, from the automotive industry, machine building, our software business and — from a geographic perspective — from China,” Busch said. 

"On this basis, we are even more confident about the second half of our fiscal year and are raising our guidance significantly,” said chief financial officer, Ralf Thomas.

Siemens said that although it continued to "a complex macroeconomic environment influenced by Covid-19, we expect our businesses to continue to deliver a strong performance in the second half of fiscal 2021.”

Full-year revenue was projected to grow by between 9 and 11 per cent.

"In line with the results already achieved during the first half of fiscal 2021 and the expectations described above, we raise our outlook for net income to the range from €5.7-6.2 billion”, well above the previous projected range of €5.0-5.5 billion, the statement said. — AFP