Siemens Espana SA has reported profits at the equivalent of $1.3m for the first half to March 31, a fall of 82% from the same period last year. The company claims that this drop is due to a non-recurring capital gain of $4m which boosted profits in the year-ago period, and the results actually show an improvement on this year’s first quarter, when the company recorded a $1.6m loss. Turnover increased by 26% to $295m, and orders are up by 25% to $398m. However, Siemens says that while recent contracts have been large, the profit margin on them has been small, and they have had little impact on overall profitability. Operating costs fell 46% to $6m and staffing levels were reduced by 2% to 3,234 while investment grew by 21% to $600m.
