Although rosy predictions cost its CEO his job this week, earnings for Siemens (NYSE:SI) rose a precipitous 43% during the 2nd quarter, as the German industrial conglomerate’s healthcare division posted 26% bottom-line gains on a modest uptick in sales.
Siemens Healthcare reported profits of €499 million (about $662.9 million) on sales of €3.37 billion (~$4.47 billion)for the quarter, for profit growth of 26.0% on sales growth of 2.8% compared with the same period last year.
And Siemens overall recorded profits of €1.10 billion (~$1.46 billion), or €1.27 (~$1.69) per share, on sales of €19.25 billion (~$25.57 billion). That represents 42.6% profit growth on a 1.5% top-line decline.
But the strong earnings numbers weren’t enough to hold on to the chief executive spot for Peter Löscher, who was ousted this week in favor of CFO Joe Kaeser after the company missed 5 profit forecasts during Löscher’s 6-year tenure.
Siemens said its healthcare segment’s profit growth came largely from improvements to its cost position. The sales growth for Siemens Healthcare was due to gains in China, with operations in Europe/CAME posting "moderate order growth" and Asia, Australia and the Americas logging declines.
