German engineering group Siemens said it would struggle to reach its full-year targets because the volatile global economy is forcing its clients to cut spending, German news website The Wall Street Journal Deutschland reported.
Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser said yesterday it would require "tough work" to meet the company's outlook, adding "our guidance is very ambitious."
"It certainly has not gotten easier to achieve our goals since we released them. The headwinds have become stronger."
"When our customers invest less, we get fewer new orders," he said in an interview, adding he expected Siemens to feel the impact in the first and second quarter of its fiscal year.
Siemens has so far said it sees profit from continuing operations for its 2011/2012 year to September flat at 7.01 billion euros ($8.9 billion), excluding a 1 billion euro positive effect related to the exit from a nuclear power joint venture with French group Areva.
Shares in Siemens, a bellwether for the eurozone's largest economy, fell 2.1 percent to 74.15 euros upon his comments, while Germany's blue-chip index was up 1.3 percent.
"It is really early in the year for Siemens to say that the profit forecast is very hard to reach," DZ Bank analyst Karsten Oblinger said.
Also yesterday, peer Philips Electronics warned fourth-quarter results would be disappointing as it books charges for inventory it can't shift in weak European markets.
Europe's biggest engineering conglomerate has four main business sectors - energy, industry, healthcare and infrastructure.
