Group profits have tumbled at truck and bus manufacturer MAN SE, figures for the first six months of 2012 show – but its Swindon operation boosted revenues despite tough UK market conditions.
The German-owned commercial vehicles and mechanical engineering equipment supplier said operating profits fell to €471m (£371m) compared with €762m in the prior-year period. The group blamed the decrease primarily on its commercial vehicles business where first-half operating profits dropped to €211m.
Chief executive officer Dr Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said the drop-off was due to the muted global economy and uncertainty from customers because of the eurozone debt crisis.
“The decline in Europe was offset by strong growth in Russia and other regions outside of Europe, although margins were lower in part,” he said. “Nevertheless, this shows once again that the decision to systematically focus MAN on the international markets was the right one. Order intake in the power engineering business area fell by 14% to €2bn.”
Orders at MAN Diesel & Turbo declined by 16% although its Renk specialist gears business achieved a 7% rise in order intake. This resulted in a 6% drop in group-level order intake to €8.3bn.
MAN’s Truck & Bus arm, which has its UK HQ on Swindon’s Blagrove business park, generated revenues of €4.4bn in the first six months of the year, exceeding the prior-year figure by €110m.
