The German industrial group MAN swung into net loss last year owing to exceptional items, but remained profitable at the operating level, it said on Monday. The group, which makes heavy trucks and buses along with turbo machinery and diesel engines, reported a net loss of 258 million euros (350 million dollars), compared with a profit of 1.25 billion euros in 2008.
MAN's operating profit also plunged but remained in the black at 504 million euros, down from 1.729 billion a year earlier, on sales that shed nearly 20 percent to 12 billion euros from 14.9 billion in 2008, a statement said. The group put the drop in sales down to a "massive decline in demand in the transportation sector in particular," as truck markets crashed owing to the global economic downturn.
MAN also took a write down of 382 million euros related to its stake in the Swedish truck company Scania, and paid a 150-million-euro fine in December stemming from alleged corruption in foreign and domestic markets. The last three months of the year were tough for MAN, with a quarterly net loss of 472 million euros and an operating profit that was one third that of the same period a year earlier, at 126 million euros.
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