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Liebherr profits in 2010 reach US$1.9 billion

The Liebherr Group benefited from the global economic recovery which saw the company return to growth in 2010. Its total turnover rose by 9.0 per cent to US$1.9 billion in 2010.

The main driver of growth came from the Group's construction machinery area with sales revenue increasing by 16 per cent from US$944mn to US$6.8 billion. As Leibherr said: "Construction machinery grew more strongly than other product areas."

Revenues from construction related equipment, as a percentage of total group sales, increased from 58.6 per cent in 2009 to 62.5 per cent in 2010.

The strongest area of growth for the group came from its earthmoving and mining division, where revenues climbed 33.3 percent to US$3.4 billion.

Mobile and crawler crane revenues increased 2.7 per cent to US$2.6 billion, while tower cranes and mixers edged up 1.1 per cent to US$750 million and maritime crane sales grew by 9.2 per cent to US$1.05 billion.

The Group's 10 largest markets in the 2010 included: Germany, France, the USA, Russia, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, China, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands. Sales in the Middle East region fell by over 21 percent to 462 million

Liebherr invested US$784mn during the year in the construction and modernisation of production locations and the enlargement of its worldwide sales and service network, 14.5 per cent less than it spent in 2009.

The Liebherr Group said in a statement: "it had made a good start in the new 2011 business year. The upward trend has continued in almost all product areas, enabling turnover to be increased by approximately 14 per cent in the first six months of the year.