MAN SE Aims to Match 2009 Operating Profit, Plans Dividend

(chinatrucks.com, Mar.10, 2010)MAN SE, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker, said it's aiming to keep operating profit in 2010 at the same level as last year as Latin American business expands and the company cuts spending on labor.

MAN will pay a dividend of 25 cents a share after operating profit in 2009 totaled 504 million euros ($686 million), Chief Financial Officer Frank Lutz said today at a news conference in Munich. Sales will be stable, helped by growth in heavy-vehicle and power-plant equipment deliveries in Brazil, Lutz said.

Shrinking truck markets, a writedown on the value of MAN's stake in Swedish competitor Scania AB and fines related to a bribery probe in Germany led to the company's first full-year net loss since at least 1989. Chief Executive Officer Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said MAN plans on keeping costs and operating profit unchanged in 2010, with the truck division at least breaking even.

"We tend to see the positive" in today's earnings report after orders increased and as MAN's main operations met or exceeded estimates, Tim Schuldt, an analyst at Equinet in Frankfurt with a "buy" recommendation on MAN, said today in a research report.

MAN rose as much as 1.12 euros, or 2.2 percent, to 51.19 euros and was up 1.2 percent as of 12:27 p.m. in Frankfurt trading. The stock has declined 7 percent this year. The dividend for 2008 earnings was 2 euros a share. The proposed payout for 2009 will be voted on at MAN’s annual shareholders meeting on April 1.

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