Siemens AG (SI) Tuesday said first quarter net profit was 81% lower than a year ago, when the figure was boosted by a multi-billion euro gain from an asset sale, but operating profit from its core business and revenue rose.

"We are sticking to our 2009 targets, even though reaching them has become more ambitious," Chief Executive Peter Loescher said in a statement.

Siemens still targets operating profit from its three main sectors in a range of EUR8 billion to EUR8.5 billion in fiscal 2009, which ends Sep. 30. Operating profit in Siemens' core business was EUR6.52 billion last year.

Net profit in the October to December quarter fell to EUR1.2 billion from EUR6.43 billion a year earlier, when Siemens booked a gain of around EUR5.4 billion related to the sale of Siemens VDO Automotive.

Operating profit for Siemens' core three sectors of industry, energy and healthcare, the key measure of its operational strength, rose 20% to EUR2.01 billion. Revenue rose 7% to EUR19.63 billion.

However, order intake, which indicates future revenue, fell 8% to EUR22.22 billion.

Siemens' first quarter results beat analysts' expectations which called for sales of EUR19.24 billion and core operating profit of EUR1.81 billion. Order intake was in line with expectations for EUR22.25 billion.

Siemens' market capialization halved in the last 52 weeks in line with Dutch peer Royal Philips Electronics NV(PHG), but its shares performed better than those of U.S. competitor General Electric Co. (GE).

Siemens shares closed Monday at EUR43.54, up 4.4%, outperforming a higher overall market.

Company Web site: www.siemens.com

-By Archibald Preuschat, Dow Jones Newswires, +49 69 297 25 505, archibald.preuschat@dowjones.com

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