7:30PM Mumbai - MAN Group operating profit rises 57%.

Earnings Review

MAN Group reported a 57% rise in operating profit to an all time high at 1,730 million pounds up from 1,105 million for the quarter ended December 2007.

Sales during the period were up by 19% percent to 15.5 billion pounds from 13 billion pounds a year ago.

Sales from commercial vehicles advanced 1.7 billion pounds or 20% to 10.4 billion pounds of which 512 million pounds originated from the sale of leased vehicles from MAN Finance''s fleet.

Excluding this one-off factor, sales of Commercial Vehicles rose by 14% and the MAN Group''s by 15% percent.

Diesel Engines also lifted sales a double-digit 21% percent to 2.2 billion pounds. Turbo Machinery reported sales of 1.1 billion pounds up 22%.

In the quarter, return on sales reached double digit for the first time at 11.2% up from 8.5%.

The company said the prior-year high order intake of 16.6 billion pounds was surpassed by 17% to reach 19.4 billion billions.

Demand

MAN said during the quarter, over 100,000 vehicles were shipped, for the first time ever and over 1,300 new jobs were created.

Demand remained strong for large diesel engines registering an increase of 29%, especially for marine propulsion purposes. Commercial vehicles demand surged 26%.

MAN CEO Håkan Samuelsson attributed strong the performance to strong demand for transport services and energy combined with internal measures aimed at enhancing profitability.

""The MAN Group''s focus on the high-growth transport, propulsion and energy sectors is paying off and the Group is perfectly poised for further expansion on an international scale,"" Man CEO Håkan Samuelsson on the occasion of the annual accounts presentation.

""This year we are celebrating our 250th birthday and our successful corporate history reflects not only a long tradition and high reliability but also our innate ability to absorb change and embrace opportunities. With such dynamism, MAN faces a strong future.""

Disposals and Acquisitions

In strict pursuance of its strategic focus on Transport-Related Engineering MAN again undertook a number of acquisitions and divestments in 2007.

Industrial Services'' steel business was sold to CCC Steel GmbH & Co KG, Hamburg, effectively reducing MAN equity to 33.3% in the new company.

MAN Finance International GmbH added vehicle rental to its business by acquiring about 25% stake in EURO-Leasing GmbH.

Forecast

The group said 2008 is likely to see a steady inflow of orders at the achieved high level.