Siemens India arm's profit jumps 39% on strong order book

ABB India

11/05/2023 12:58

BENGALURU, May 11 (Reuters) - Siemens Ltd  SIEM.NS , the
Indian arm of German engineering company Siemens AG  SIEGn.DE ,
reported a near-39% rise in quarterly profit, helped by a boost
in infrastructure spending in the country.
    Consolidated net profit rose to 4.71 billion rupees ($57.59
million) in the second quarter ended March 31, from 3.40 billion
rupees a year earlier, the company said on Thursday.
    Like its peers ABB India Ltd  ABB.NS  and Larsen & Toubro
Ltd  LART.NS , Siemens has gained from government spending on
infrastructure, especially railways, metros and highways, after
a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    In January, the infrastructure developer signed a contract
worth 260 billion rupees with the railway ministry for an
electric locomotive project in the western state of Gujarat, its
biggest order in India. The company booked new orders worth
311.51 billion rupees during the quarter.
    Revenue at its smart infrastructure and energy segments,
which combined account for about 67.5% of the total, rose 15.8%
and 30%, respectively. This helped total revenue from operations
jump 27.8% to 48.58 billion rupees.
    Last month, Prabhudas Lilladher analysts said they were
"positive" on Siemens due to the company's wide portfolio,
market position in digitalisation and automation, and focus on
product localisation.
    "We continue to see substantial tendering by the Indian
Railways and continued capex expansion in infrastructure led by
Central Government spending" said Sunil Mathur, managing
director and chief executive of Siemens, in a statement.
    Rise in input cost, purchases of stock-in-trade, and project
buy-outs, however, pushed total expenses up 26.3%.
    Shares of the company closed 2.2% higher to an all-time high
of 3,797.05 rupees on Thursday ahead of the results.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Biplob Kumar Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini
Goswami)
 ((Biplobkumar.das@thomsonreuters.com; 9101861583;))