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Siemens swells profits
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January 31, 2001: 7:28 a.m. ET
Electronics titan posts quarterly profit of $724M; Infineon profit hits $413M
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Siemens said on Wednesday it expects double-digit sales growth in 2001 as it posted a 32 percent rise in first quarter net profit.
The German engineering and electronics powerhouse said net income for the three months ended December 31 rose to  778 million ($724 million), compared with 591 million in the year earlier period.
"Despite the challenges being faced by individual groups, we are again aiming for a considerable increase in earnings. The key figures for the first quarter show that we are on the right track," Heinrich von Pierer, Siemens chief executive, said in a statement.
 Siemens (FSIE) shares were up 3.7 percent at 156.85 in midday Frankfurt trade.
The company plans to list on Wall Street in March.
New orders in the first quarter rose 28 percent.
Many analysts refrained from making precise forecasts due to the change in accounting requirements, but Susan Anthony, analyst at Crédit Lyonnais Securities, said she had expected net income growth of 15-20 percent.
Siemens said that while it expects growth to edge off during the year, net income is expected to grow faster than sales.
Anthony, who has a "reduce" rating on the stock, told CNNfn.com Siemens should try to narrow its focus.
"It's a conglomerate that shouldn't be involved in communications, it's a business that may cause them some problems in the future," she said.
The world's fourth largest mobile phone maker, Siemens said it sold 9.3 million phones in the quarter and new orders in the period increased by 23 percent.
Siemens' separately-listed, 71 percent-owned chipmaker Infineon Technologies (FIFX) posted big gains in profit and revenue on a year-on-year basis, but admitted its sales and earnings fell compared with the final quarter of the 2000 financial year. The firm blamed a decline in pricing and demand for memory chips.
Infineon shares were up 4 percent at 46.70.
The firm said first-quarter net earnings before interest and tax reached 446 million, up 83 percent. The figure included a one-off 202 million gain from the sale of its image and video business.
Revenue reached 1.66 billion in the first quarter, up 8 percent from the year earlier period, but down 30 percent from the fourth quarter. 
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