The German engineering group, Siemens, reported a decline in second-quarter earnings at its industrial business on Thursday. This was due to a slowdown at its flagship factory automation division, Digital Industries. Industrial profit fell 2% to 2.51 billion euros ($2.73 billion) in the three months to the end of March, missing an average analyst forecast for 2.68 billion euros in a company-gathered consensus. Sales fell 1% to 19.16 billion euros, below the expected 19.28 billion euros, while net profit fell to 2.19 billion euros.
Despite this decline in Digital Industries, Siemens’s buildings and transport division both posted increases in revenues. The company attributed the decline in Digital Industries to lower orders, sales and profit during the period, with China being particularly weak and Europe also struggling. Profit at the division fell sharply as Siemens sold fewer of its higher-margin products and utilized its own factories less.
Siemens said it now expects the destocking trend to continue into the second half of 2024 and reduced its sales outlook for digital industries accordingly. However, despite this setback, Chief Executive Roland Busch stated that Siemens had proven its resilience with strong revenue performance in Smart Infrastructure, Mobility and industrial software; this nearly offset currently muted demand in Digital Industries’ automation business
