MAN's 2004 Profits Soar on Truck Sales

German engineering conglomerate MAN said it was able to report a sharp rise in profits last year on the back of strong demand for its trucks, as well as printing machinery, diesel engines and industrial services. MAN said pretax profit for 2004 zoomed ahead 73 percent to €453 million ($589 million). Earnings per share nearly doubled, to €2.09 from €1.25. Incoming orders rose 17 percent to €16.1 billion and sales climbed 10 percent to €14.9 billion, MAN said. "MAN has really benefited from the upswing in demand for commercial vehicles,'' said Norbert Kretlow, an analyst at Independent Research in Frankfurt. "The question investors have to ask is how is the development going to continue at the truck unit. It's very dependant on worldwide economic growth and very cyclical in nature.''