Siemens profit ahead of forecast despite digital sector orders fall
ZURICH (Reuters) -Siemens reported first-quarter profit slightly ahead of expectations on Thursday despite the German engineering group seeing a slowdown at its flagship factory automation unit. Digital Industries, which supplies companies with software and controllers to operate their production lines, saw new orders fall by a third and profit by a fifth as market conditions weakened. Like other major industrial companies, Siemens's results are seen as a barometer of the global economy.