German engineering giant Siemens on Thursday confirmed its full-year forecasts as it reported stable profits and slightly increased revenue in the second quarter of its business year.

Siemens, which runs its business year from October to September, said in a statement that net profit edged up 0.7 percent to 1.45 billion euros ($1.58 billion) in the period from January to March.

Revenues were up 6.0 percent at 20.2 billion euros.

Siemens said it achieved a strong growth in revenue in all its industrial businesses, ranging from wind turbines and power plants to trains and medical equipment.

Nevertheless, increased taxes and the winding down of some activities limited growth in the Munich-based group's bottom line.

Meanwhile, Siemens said its order book swelled by two percent to 22.6 billion euros in the January-March period.

"We delivered another strong team performance and continued to outperform the markets," said chief executive Joe Kaeser.

In the second half of the year, Siemens will integrate newly-purchased software firm Mentor Graphics into its business, acquired at the end of 2016.

The US-based company is seen by managers as key to developing Siemens' vision of future factories.

A second priority is the launch of wind turbine subsidiary, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, born from a recent merger with Spanish manufacturer Gamesa.

Across the whole business, Siemens confirmed its forecasts for the full financial year, expecting to report "modest" revenue growth that will continued to be outpaced by orders.

Meanwhile, the group is aiming for a profit margin on its industrial business of between 11 and 12 percent, with earnings per share between 7.20 and 7.70 euros.

Siemens offered no new hints about the future of its "Healthineers" medical division.

Although it remains comfortably profitable, the unit is slated for a separate stock market flotation, as executives see little connection to the rest of the group after Siemens' long and deep restructuring in recent years.

source: AFP