Forecast for 2025 confirmed

"We have completed another successful quarter with significant growth in order intake, revenue and profit after tax. Our customers continue to place their trust in our technologies and our global presence makes us resilient," said Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens. And CFO Prof. Dr. Ralf P. Thomas explains: "With our focus on consistent execution, we have once again succeeded in converting significant sales growth into strong earnings and a solid free cash flow. We successfully and swiftly completed the acquisition of Altair shortly before the end of the second quarter. We confirm our outlook for the 2025 financial year," said

Significant growth in incoming orders and sales revenue

In the second quarter of the fiscal year (ended March 31), Siemens increased revenue on a comparable basis, i.e. excluding currency translation and portfolio effects, by 6% to €19.8 billion (Q2 2024: €18.5 billion). Order intake grew by 9% to EUR 21.6 billion on a comparable basis compared to the same quarter of the previous year (Q2 2024: EUR 19.7 billion). The ratio of incoming orders to sales (book-to-bill ratio) reached a strong level of 1.10. The order backlog amounted to EUR 117 billion at the end of the second quarter of the financial year.

Earnings in the Industrial Business increased by almost a third to EUR 3.2 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 2.5 billion) due to strong operating performance and a profit of EUR 0.3 billion in connection with the exit from the Wiring Accessories business at Smart Infrastructure. The earnings margin of the Industrial Business was 16.9% accordingly (Q2 2024: 14.0%). Profit after tax rose by 11% to EUR 2.4 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 2.2 billion). This growth was mainly due to the higher result in the Industrial Business.

Free cash flow 'all-in' from continuing and discontinued operations amounted to EUR 1.0 billion at Group level (Q2 2024: EUR 1.3 billion). Free cash flow from Industrial Business remained at the same level as the prior-year quarter of EUR 2.1 billion, with Smart Infrastructure making the largest contribution.

Significant order growth in the automation business

Order intake at Digital Industries reached the previous year's level of EUR 4.3 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 4.3 billion), with the automation business recording significant order growth due to higher demand in China. There, the reduction in customers' increased inventories was nearing its end at the end of the quarter. In contrast, automation orders in Germany declined considerably and, as expected, incoming orders in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software business were lower than in the strong prior-year quarter. On a comparable basis, sales revenue recorded a moderate decline of -5% to €4.3 billion (Q2 2024: €4.5 billion). The decline in sales revenue in the automation business was significantly lower than in previous quarters.

In the Software segment, growth in the PLM business was outweighed by a considerable decline compared to the strong prior-year quarter in the EDA business. Earnings of EUR 634 million (Q2 2024: EUR 741 million) and profitability of 14.8% (Q2 2024: 16.5%) fell, mainly due to lower revenue in the EDA business and expenses of EUR 27 million in connection with the closing of the Altair acquisition.

At EUR 6.0 billion, incoming orders in Smart Infrastructure remained slightly below the strong prior-year figure (Q2 2024: EUR 6.1 billion), which had seen a particularly high level of orders for data centers. Sales revenue increased in all businesses and reporting regions. They rose by 10% on a comparable basis to EUR 5.7 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 5.1 billion), led by the Electrification business due to the stringent processing of the large order backlog from data centers and customers in the energy sector. Smart Infrastructure continued its increase in earnings and profitability with higher revenue, increased capacity utilization and continuous productivity improvements compared to the previous year. Earnings rose by 61% to EUR 1.4 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 854 million) and the earnings margin increased by over 7 percentage points to 24.0% (Q2 2024: 16.6%), with both earnings and profitability benefiting from a gain of EUR 315 million in connection with the exit from the Wiring Accessories business.

In Mobility, order intake increased by 22% on a like-for-like basis to EUR 3.9 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 3.2 billion) due to a sharp rise in the volume of major orders, which included significant contract wins in Europe and America, such as the orders to supply dual-mode and battery electric locomotives in the USA worth a total of EUR 0.6 billion. Mobility increased its sales revenue on a comparable basis by 12% to EUR 3.2 billion (Q2 2024: EUR 2.8 billion). All businesses recorded growth, led by the rail vehicle and customer service business. Earnings rose by 23% to EUR 291 million (Q2 2024: EUR 237 million). This was driven by an improvement in almost all businesses and included a strong contribution from the customer service business. The earnings margin rose accordingly to 9.1% (Q2 2024: 8.4%).

Outlook

Despite increased uncertainty in the economic environment, Siemens confirms its forecast for fiscal year 2025: Digital Industries expects a change in revenue on a comparable basis (adjusted for currency translation and portfolio effects) in the range of -6% to +1% for fiscal year 2025. The earnings margin is expected to range between 15% and 19%.

Smart Infrastructure expects revenue growth on a comparable basis of between 6% and 9% and an earnings margin in a range of 17% to 18% for the financial year 2025, which does not include a profit of EUR 315 million from Q2 FY 2025 due to the exit from the Wiring Accessories business.

Mobility expects revenue growth on a comparable basis of between 8% and 10% and an earnings margin in the range of 8% to 10% for the 2025 financial year.

For the Siemens Group, sales growth on a comparable basis is expected to be in the range of 3% to 7% and the ratio of new orders to sales (book-to-bill ratio) is expected to exceed 1.