Siemens beats estimates as demand for electrification, software soars

German industrial technology giant Siemens on Thursday posted better-than-expected quarterly operating profit and confirmed its full-year outlook.

Industrial profit came in at 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in the quarter to the end of June, 11% higher than in the same quarter a year ago. The figure was also above the company-complied analyst consensus.

Shares were 0.76% lower at 8:27 a.m. London time on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was trading down 1.04%.

Siemens attributed its growth in the third quarter to strong demand in its electrification and industrial software businesses, but noted the automation business remained “challenging.”

There was an “exceptionally high order growth in the software business driven by a number of large contract wins for licensed software,” the company said, with profitability growth more than offsetting a profit decline in automation.

“Smart Infrastructure continued its broad-based increase in profit and profitability year-over-year on higher revenue, increased capacity utilization and ongoing productivity improvements,” the company added.

Siemens flagged a sharp slowdown in its automation business during its previous results.

The business confirmed its outlook for the full financial year, but noted that comparable revenue growth for the Siemens Group was expected to come in at the lower end of the projected 4%-8% range.