Cost reductions made up for lower revenues in most businesses to bring Siemens Healthcare an increase in profit in its 2013 fiscal second quarter.
For the period (end-March 31), the vendor had revenues of $4.323 billion, down 2% from the $4.434 billion reported in the second quarter of 2012. Thanks to savings from its ongoing Agenda 2013 initiative, Siemens Healthcare had a quarterly profit of $587 million, compared with a profit of $559.3 million a year ago.
In other positive developments, orders were up 3%, driven primarily by the company's imaging business.
On a regional basis, Siemens posted lower revenue in its Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Africa, and Middle East (Europe/CAME) and Americas sectors; these declines were not offset by slight growth in Asia and Australia. The company said that significant order growth in the Asia and Australia region was highlighted by double-digit increases in China.
