Digital Industries was able to increase sales on a comparable basis by 23% to €5.5 billion - according to Siemens, this is the highest quarterly result ever achieved. The double-digit percentage growth extends across all areas. The highest contributions to growth came from the automation businesses due to improved availability of components and accelerated processing of the order backlog. On a comparable basis, incoming orders fell by 10% to EUR 5.3 billion and were below the level of the same quarter in the previous year. In the software business, order intake increased, mainly due to some larger orders, Siemens said, and earnings rose by 57% to €1.3 billion, the highest quarterly result ever achieved; the earnings margin was 23.5%. Earnings and profitability increased in all automation businesses.