Berlin / AFP German industrial giant Siemens lifted its annual earnings forecast on Thursday after booming demand for renewables fattened order books in the second quarter, but warned of increasing geopolitical risks. For the financial year ending September, the group said it expected profits per share between 6.50 and 6.70 euros ($7.24-7.46), compared with the 6.0 to 6.40 it …

  Bloomberg Serco Group Plc shares surged to a 14-month high after the U.K. government-services contractor raised its profit target for a second time this year following quicker-than-expected cost savings and the pound’s plunge. Serco rose as much as 16 percent to 138 pence, the highest intraday price since June 3, 2015, and was up 14 percent at 12:18 p.m. …

  The Hague / AFP Inflation in The Netherlands dipped into negative territory in July for the first time in nearly three decades, slipping to -0.30 percent, according to official statistics published on Thursday. “The last time that inflation was below zero was in December 1987,” the Central Statistics Office said. The news came after three months of stagnation when …