In what could be one of its last financial reports as part of parent company Siemens AG, Siemens Healthineers reported rising profitability on essentially flat revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 (end-December 31).
For the period, Siemens Healthineers had revenue of $3.529 billion (3.282 billion euros), basically even with revenue of $3.535 billion (3.288 billion euros) in the first quarter of fiscal 2016. The health division's profit grew to $667 million (620 million euros) in the first quarter of 2017, compared with a profit of $582 million (541 million euros) in the same period of 2016. The division's profit margin for the quarter grew to 18.9% from 16.5% the year before.
The division reported that moderate order growth was driven by its diagnostic imaging business, with clear growth in Asia, including China, as well as Australia. Orders for the quarter came in at $3.71 billion (3.451 billion euros), up 4% after currency adjustments from $3.602 billion (3.350 billion euros) in the first quarter of 2016.
Siemens is moving to spin off Siemens Healthineers as a separate company; published reports have stated that it will accept bids from investment banks for participation in the spin-off as early as April.
