BERLIN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- German technology giant Siemens' revenues increased by 1 percent to 20.1 billion euros (22.98 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year which runs from October to December 2018, according to company figures published on Wednesday.
Siemens' net profit of 1.1 billion euros was almost 50 percent lower than in the same period last year. However, this decline was largely due to particularly high profits from selling shares of Osram Licht AG in the first quarter of 2018 as well as the tax reform in the United States.
Orders received by Siemens rose by 12 percent to 25.2 billion euros on a nominal basis but operative results in Siemens' core industry business went down to 2.1 billion euros.
"Our continued high order growth underlines the customer confidence in the performance of our company," said Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens.
However, there would still be "much to do before we achieve industry-leading margins in all our businesses," added Kaeser.
Kaeser also rejected further concessions regarding the fusion of Siemens' train division with the French manufacturer Alstom. A successful merger would be favorable for all parties "but we will not seek it at any price", according to the speech text for the presentation in Munich by Kaeser.
Siemens and Alstom are planning to merge their train divisions into the second largest train manufacturer in the world. The competition commissioner of the European Union Margrethe Vestager so far rejects this merger. The two companies had revised the conditions for the planned fusion last week.
"Now it is up to the competition authorities to decide," said Kaeser. A decision by the EU commission on the planned fusion of Siemens and Alstom is expected by Feb. 18.
