Second-quarter earnings at German truck maker MAN SE increased sharply as a recovering economy contributed to a surge in orders and revenues, the company said Thursday.
MAN said it earned €151 million ($196 million) in the April-June period, up from €27 million a year earlier.
The order intake was up 64 percent to €3.75 billion from €2.28 billion, and revenues rose 16 percent to €3.61 billion from €3.11 billion, the company said.
"The timid signs of recovery at the beginning of the year were confirmed and strengthened," in the second quarter, MAN said, as an improving economy, along with diminishing uncertainty in the financial sector and in manufacturing, helped the transport and energy markets.
MAN says it "expects to continue its positive performance," and is forecasting a "significant" increase in full-year orders and revenue growth of more than 10 percent.
MAN, which produces large ship engines and turbomachinery as well as trucks, said that the often-diverging performance of its commercial vehicle and power engineering sectors made it "well balanced from a cyclical perspective."
"In 2009, the weakness in the commercial vehicles business area was offset by the high order backlog in the power engineering business area," it said in a statement. "Now the growing momentum in the commercial vehicles markets will act as a counterbalance."
First-half net earnings slipped 8 percent to €200 million from €208 million. Last year's figures had included income of €125 million related to sale of a majority stake in MAN Ferrostaal AG - a construction contractor for chemical, oil, gas and solar plants.
January-June order intake rose 59 percent to €7.27 billion from €4.57 billion. Revenues were up 19 percent to €6.73 billion from €5.67 billion.
Investors gave the report a poor reception. MAN shares were down 3 percent at €70.79.
