BERLIN: German industrial giant Siemens said Friday that it was raising its earnings forecast for the current year after net profit more than trebled in the second quarter.

Siemens, which makes products ranging from trains to factory equipment, said in a statement that it booked bottom-line net profit of 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in the period from January to March, up from 697 million euros a year earlier.

Underlying or operating profit rose by 31 percent to 2.1 billion euros as revenues increased by nine percent to 14.7 billion euros and orders were up 11 percent at 15.9 billion euros. “As our order intake and revenue in the second quarter impressively demonstrate, our customers place great trust in us,” said chief executive Roland Busch. “Growth momentum came, in particular, from the automotive industry, machine building, our software business and — from a geographic perspective — from China,” Busch said.