According to the report, sales revenue was almost on a par with the previous year at €14.2 billion, as growth at Siemens Healthineers and Mobility offset a decline at Digital Industries. Order intake fell by 8% to €15.1 billion due to the very sharp decline in the volume of major orders in the Mobility division. On a comparable basis (excluding currency translation and portfolio effects), sales revenue fell by 1% and incoming orders by 9%. At 1.06, the book-to-bill ratio remained well above 1.

Adjusted EBITA Industrial Businesses of EUR 1.6 billion declined significantly, with all industrial businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The adjusted EBITA margin Industrial Businesses amounted to 12.1%, held back by personnel restructuring expenses of EUR 0.2 billion, which reduced the margin by 1.2 percentage points.

Profit after tax amounted to EUR 0.7 billion and included a loss from discontinued operations of EUR 0.3 billion, compared to a profit after tax of EUR 1.9 billion in Q2 FY 2019, which benefited from a profit from discontinued operations of EUR 0.2 billion and a lower tax rate. Basic earnings per share decreased to EUR 0.80.

Digital Industries

In the Digital Industries division, order intake increased primarily in the factory automation solutions business and in the software business, as both businesses recorded a number of major orders. In geographical terms, order growth was attributable to the Europe, CIS, Africa, Near and Middle East (Europe/GANO) and Asia, Australia regions, including double-digit percentage growth in China.

However, revenue declined across the businesses, partly due to the impact of Covid-19 (particularly as a result of lower customer demand), with the decline being most pronounced in the short-cycle businesses. Looking at this part geographically, there were lower sales in Asia, Australia (especially in China) and Europe/GANO (especially in Germany).

According to the report, the burden on profitability due to lower sales revenues hit the high-margin short-cycle businesses the hardest, leading to a significant decline in Adjusted EBITA overall. Siemens expects stronger financial burdens from Covid-19 in Q3.

Outlook

Siemens delivered a solid performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, even as the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic began to affect our business processes and financial results. For the third quarter of our fiscal year, the Group expects the pandemic to have an even greater impact on business performance.

Siemens has announced that the original forecast for the 2020 financial year can no longer be confirmed, as overall economic developments beyond the third quarter cannot yet be reliably estimated.

In the 2020 financial year, the company now expects a moderate decline in comparable revenue (excluding currency translation and portfolio effects) and a book-to-bill ratio that remains above 1. The decline in demand will be reflected most strongly in the Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure operating companies.

The spin-off and IPO of Siemens Energy before the end of the 2020 fiscal year is expected to result in a spin-off profit. It is also assumed that the costs of the spin-off and tax expenses in connection with the spin-off and the formation of the Siemens Energy subgroup will have a significant negative impact on earnings after taxes. For this reason, no forecast for basic earnings per share (for earnings after taxes) is given for fiscal year 2020.