Siemens sees higher 2016 earnings after Q4 beat

BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's biggest industrial group Siemens expects a double-digit rise in earnings for its current fiscal year provided that markets pick up for some of its key businesses.

The trains-to-turbines group, which is the first of its peers to give an outlook for the year ahead, forecast a moderate full-year rise in revenue and a book-to-bill ratio above 1 after beating expectations for fourth-quarter profit.

"Siemens anticipates further softening in the macroeconomic environment and continuing complexity in the geopolitical environment in 2016," it said in a statement on Thursday.

"This outlook assumes that momentum in the market environment for Siemens' high-margin short-cycle businesses will pick up in the second half of fiscal 2016."

Siemens said basic earnings per share should rise by at least 14 percent on a comparable basis to 5.90 to 6.20 euros. EPS for the year to end-September was boosted by the disposals of Siemens' hearing aids and household appliance businesses.

The company exceeded its industrial profit margin target of 10-11 percent with a result of 11.3 percent in its fourth quarter to the end of September, and renewed the goal for the current year on Thursday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Victoria Bryan)