MAN says European market is growing again, but situation in Brazil continues to have negative impact
GERMANY Commercial vehicle and mechanical engineering manufacturer, MAN says it’s addressing its current cost structures and significantly enhancing efficiency to better respond to market fluctuations.
Andreas Renschler who is also the new Chairman of the Board of Scania AB, has been elected to the Supervisory Board of MAN SE and will take over as Chairman of the body until the end of its current period of office.
MAN has launched a group-wide efficiency programme. The programme includes reorganizing truck production and streamlining administrative functions at MAN Truck & Bus. These measures will initially entail financial expenses, the largest part of which was recorded as provisions in the past quarter. The tense situation in Brazil continued to have a significant negative impact on the group’s figures, while the European commercial vehicles market is now growing again.
The commercial vehicles business only recorded a moderate decline, decreasing by 3% year-on-year to €5.6bn. However, MAN Latin America saw its order intake reduce by 50% year-on-year to €593m.
MAN Truck & Bus recorded a 9% rise in its order intake to €5.1bn. The order intake in the power engineering business amounted to €1.9bn corresponding to a year-on-year decline of approximately 3%. MAN Diesel & Turbo received €1.6bn in new orders while Renk’s order intake was €293m in the first six months of the year.
At €6.7bn, MAN Group’s sales revenue remained level year-on-year in the first half of 2015.
At €15m, the MAN Group still recorded an operating profit in the first half of 2015 despite the significant impact of the weak economic situation in Brazil and restructuring expenses of €170 million at MAN Truck & Bus.
Dr. Georg Pachta-Reyhofen, CEO of MAN SE, said: “It is of course no easy task to initiate fundamental and cost-intensive measures to safeguard future growth in economically difficult times. However, we are convinced that we have to act here and now to get MAN in shape for the future.”
