German industrial giant Siemens has issued a surprise profit warning, saying its earnings would be cut by about €900m following a review of major projects.
Siemens said there had been a weaker than expected performance in projects at its energy division, which builds power plants, and its transport unit. It added that a lost British contract for information technology services would also affect earnings in the three months to March.
Siemens had said in January that sales would increase this year by double the pace of the global economy.
But delays in a large number of projects in fossil power generation operations had had an adverse effect, Siemens said. The group has won large contracts since 2004, but has run into trouble fulfilling them since then.
