OBERKOCHEN, Germany—The Zeiss Group reported Thursday that it “had a very successful end to the first six months” of its current fiscal year, with revenues rising 10 percent to €2.550 billion and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increasing to €384 million, a total “significantly higher” than in the year-ago period. In the first half of the previous fiscal year, Zeiss reported revenues of €2.322 billion and EBIT of €280 million. The six-month reporting period of the current 2016-17 fiscal year ended March 31.

Zeiss noted that its EBIT margin has increased to 15 percent, and that incoming orders hit €2.743 billion in the first half (compared with €2.448 billion in the year-ago period).

“Zeiss is benefiting once again from its solid and future-oriented portfolio, and recorded growth across all segments over the same period of the prior year,” Michael Kaschke, president and chief executive of Carl Zeiss AG, said in a statement. “Our growth substantiates our aspiration to be a technological leader in optics and optoelectronics.”

In its vision care/consumer products business segment, Zeiss reported that revenues rose 4 percent in the first half to €553 million, while its medical technology segment saw sales increase 10 percent €682 million.

The medical technology segment experienced growth in the Asia/Pacific region in particular “and can hold its own with product innovations and service offerings in the highly competitive health care market,” Zeiss noted. In the vision care/consumer products segment, Zeiss-branded lenses and “well-positioned innovations in particular are contributing to growth.”

Zeiss, which generates roughly 90 percent of its business outside Germany, increased its investment in research and development by about 20 percent in the first half, according to its announcement.

In addition, Zeiss noted that global growth forecasts have improved slightly. “The industrialized countries are … experiencing growth thanks to positive development in the USA, which is moderate overall. The emerging countries continue to drive the global economy despite a drop in momentum in some cases,” the statement said.

“As things stand today, we will be able to forge ahead with our growth trajectory in the second half of the year,” Kaschke added. The company noted that its continued successful development is linked, also, “to the consistent implementation of the corporate strategy, the Zeiss Agenda 2020,” which emphasizes aligning business operations more closely with customer success.