Int’l orders support German industries

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS photo

Booming orders from abroad provided a big boost to Germany’s key machine-tools sector in September, the industry federation said yesterday, but cautioned that a large number of big-ticket orders had distorted the data.

Incoming orders increased by 11 percent in September compared to the figure for the same month in 2011, the VDMA association said, with foreign orders soaring by 24 percent, more than offsetting a 14-percent decline in domestic orders.

But, VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers noted that the low level of orders seen the previous year and a large number of big-ticket orders from non-eurozone countries “are distorting the picture.
“The majority of machine-tool makers have yet to see a clearly positive signal for the economy in the coming months,” Wiechers said.

Deutche Bank profit falls

However, Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, said yesterday its net profit declined in the third quarter owing to a much bigger tax bill, while underlying profits increased in the period. Deutsche Bank said in a statement its bottom-line net profit amounted to 755 million euros ($980 million) in the period from July to September, compared with 777 million euros a year earlier.