Industrial conglomerate Siemens delivered second-quarter results today that suffered from a 9% year-over-year orders decline in the company’s Industry business, which includes industrial automation and solutions, drive technology, and a number of other manufacturing-facing businesses.
Siemens’ fiscal discipline, which has included job cuts, produced a healthy bottom line for the three months ended March 31. Net income for the company rose 48% to nearly €1.5 billion; in the Industry sector, profit jumped 17% to €783 million.
CEO Peter Loscher, on a conference call with press and analysts, said Siemens sees “signs of a recovery in our key markets,” but tempered the assessment with modest expectations for growth.
“The global economy appears to be stabilizing at a lower level than before the crisis,” he said. Later in the call, he explained, “We see a clear recovery, however, at a level which is clearly below 2008.”