Berlin: German engineering giant Siemens said Thursday its third quarter profit was down slightly and predicted a complex year, citing ‘geopolitical tensions.’

Net income stood at 1.38 billion euros ($1.5 billion), down two per cent year on year for April to June, said the Munich-based company.

Siemens, whose products include trains, gas turbines and medical equipment, confirmed its full-year outlook of an industrial business profit margin of 10 to 11 per cent.

‘Overall our businesses delivered solid underlying profitability despite a softening market environment,’ said CEO Joe Kaeser.

‘We expect to maintain our momentum with a strong closing quarter for fiscal 2015.’

The company has benefited from a weak euro, but falling oil prices have affected its energy business.

Siemens predicted that ‘our business environment will be complex in fiscal 2015, among other things due to geopolitical tensions,’ which it did not specify.

Siemens says on its website it is active ‘in nearly all countries of the world,’ with some 290 major production and manufacturing plants worldwide, and generates 85 per cent of revenues outside Germany.