Siemens, a bellwether of the euro zone's biggest economy, raised its full-year outlook after robust demand from factories in emerging markets bolstered its second-quarter business.

Siemens, whose products range from hearing aids and light bulbs to fast trains and power plants, said today it saw broad-based growth in all markets, with strong appetite from developing regions for its industrial automation technology.

"Siemens continues to have a very strong growth profile, and I think the quarter is just an expression of it," chief executive Peter Loescher told Reuters Insider in an interview after the results were published.

Growth is "broad-based, over a third of our order intake coming out of emerging markets," he said.

The company, which is looking to float its lighting business Osram, said earnings were also boosted by an expected €1.5 billion gain from the sale of its stake in Areva NP to partner Areva.

Mr Loescher told Insider that the flotation was fully on track, although no banks had been mandated yet.

Siemens' earnings mirror recent gains by European engineering rivals on the back of emerging market demand.

France's Schneider Electric posted a 27 per cent rise in quarterly sales, while Swiss engineering peer ABB's net profit jumped over 40 per cent.

Siemens said emerging markets on a global basis grew faster than revenue overall, at 12 per cent year-on-year, and was 31 per cent of total revenue for the quarter, with those from China and India, each up 20 percent.

Siemens said it now expects net income from continuing operations to reach at least €7.5 billion for its year through September.

It had previously forecast growth of at least 25 to 35 per cent in net income from continuing operations for its fiscal year, which analysts had estimated meant €5.1 billion to €5.5 billion.

In the January-March quarter, Siemens won a contract worth more than $1 billion to supply turbines and key parts for a combined electricity and desalination plant in Saudi Arabia and secured another for wind turbines in Germany from Dong Energy that same month.

It signed an agreement to supply traction equipment and vehicle control systems for intercity trains in China, and was awarded contract for power supply to a Metro Rail firm in Chennai, India.

Net profit from continuing operations rose 122 per cent in the quarter to end-March, beating expectations.

Siemens - known for its conservative outlook - has said growth could slow down in its second-half as it will be difficult to repeat last year's steep bounce from recession.

"What we have to bear in mind is (that) this is the fourth consecutive quarter where we have order and sales growth. For the second half of the year...there will be a certain levelling off of the growth profile due to baseline effects," Mr Loescher said.

His comments came as signs of weakening in German business sentiment emerged last month after hitting a two-decade high in February, lending further evidence to a slowing rate of expansion in Europe's largest economy.

Reuters