Siemens increased its quarterly profit by 193 percent last year, impacted by the exit from Russia.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens increased its net profit 193 percent year-on-year to 3.6 billion euros (about 85 billion kronor) in the second quarter of its fiscal year, the company said in its earnings results today. A year ago, the company's performance was hit by writedowns related to its withdrawal from the Russian market following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. But now the firm has raised its full-year profit and revenue outlook.

Second-quarter sales rose 14 percent to 19.4 billion euros. Analysts had expected sales of 18.6 billion euros in a survey compiled by the company. Profit from industrial activities rose 47 percent to 2.6 billion euros in the three months to the end of March. In that respect, the company fell short of estimates that had called for a profit of 2.7 billion euros.

Siemens, which makes a range of products from trains to industrial software, now expects comparable sales growth of nine to 11 per cent in the 12 months to the end of September. The previous outlook was for growth of seven to 10 per cent. It expects basic earnings per share to rise to 9.60 to 9.90 euros, up from February's estimate of 8.90 to 9.40 euros.

"Siemens continues to deliver excellent results and has achieved several record highs, including impressive margin expansion and all-time highs in the Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure divisions. The backlog of orders was also a record," CEO Roland Busch said in a statement.

Siemens' results are seen by analysts as an indicator of the health of broader economic activity in the industry. Swiss rival ABB recently raised its full-year revenue and profit outlook on the back of a favorable first quarter. And French train maker Alstom said last week that market dynamics remain very favourable.