Siemens lifts mid-term outlook as AI-driven data centre demand boosts orders

By John Revill

ZURICH, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Siemens on Thursday reported better-than-expected results in its fourth quarter and lifted its mid-term growth outlook, as strong demand for trains and from AI-related data centres continued to boost orders.

The German engineering group, whose products range from trains to electrical gear for factories, buildings and data centres, said industrial profit jumped 22% to €3.89 billion ($4.31 billion) in the three-month period ended September 30.

The figure, the highest ever posted by Siemens, beat forecasts for €3.71 billion in a company-compiled consensus of analysts.

Revenue rose 11% to €23.68 billion, exceeding forecasts of €23.39 billion, while orders surged 58% to a record €34.77 billion.

The jump in orders was largely fuelled by large contract wins at Siemens' Mobility division and its Smart Infrastructure business, which supplies data centres.

Siemens said it was seeing "sharply higher' order intake in its electrification and electrical products businesses, including large contract wins from data centre customers mainly in the US and Europe.

Power distribution equipment, cooling gear and digital simulations of facilities are among the products that Siemens provides for data centres.

As a result, Siemens raised its mid-term outlook and now expects comparable annual revenue growth of 7%-11%, up from its previous forecast of 6%-9%.

For 2027, it expects revenue to increase by 9-11%, towards the upper end of its target range.

Shares of Siemens were up 4.4% in early trading in Frankfurt.

Siemens also gave details on its plans to reduce its stake in Siemens Healthineers, saying it planned to distribute one Siemens Healthineers share for every two Siemens shares held by shareholders, confirming a Reuters story on Wednesday.

Under the plan, Siemens would transfer 34.1% of its stake to shareholders, taking its holding down to around 33%. In the mid-term, Siemens plans to sell down its stake to below 20% and hold Siemens Healthineers as a financial investment.

($1 = 0.9027 euros)

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Linda Pasquini and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)