Siemens: orders down in first quarter

German engineering giant Siemens said Wednesday earnings and orders were down in the first quarter, but it was nevertheless sticking to its full-year targets. "In an uncertain economic environment, we got off to a solid start in fiscal 2013," chief executive Peter Loescher said in a statement. But he cautioned: "For the rest of the year, we don't expect any tailwinds from the global economy to help us reach our ambitious goals." Siemens operates its business year from October to September and in the first quarter, the three months to December, new orders declined by 3.0 percent to 19.141 billion euros ($25.5 billion). Revenues, on the other hand, edged up by 2.0 percent to 18.128 billion euros, but net profit fell by 12 percent to 1.214 billion euros. Looking ahead to the full year, Siemens said "the outlook remains unchanged." Orders and revenues were projected to show "moderate growth... approaching the level of fiscal 2012." Full-year underlying profit was forecast to come in a range of 4.5-5.0 billion euros, it added.