MAN SE Third-quarter operating profit slumped by half to 82 million euros (64.5 million pounds), with new orders down by a fifth to 3.47 billion euros, Munich-based MAN said on Tuesday.
The Volkswagen-owned company now expects operating profit to come in "slightly" above last year's 475 million euros, after previously guiding for that measure to be "clearly" higher than in 2013.
Sales at MAN, which also makes diesel engines and turbines, fell 5 percent to 3.5 billion euros in the third quarter, reflecting slowing demand in core European and South American markets.
"Our results are certainly less than satisfactory," Chief Executive Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said in a statement. "We are doing everything we can to get back on track as soon as possible."
The manufacturer last month slashed the profit outlook for its main truck and bus division on falling demand in Europe and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
In late July, it cut its full-year forecast for group sales after revenue at its Latin American truck division slumped 17 percent due to slowing growth in Brazil and the weaker real currency.
To foster a turnaround, MAN started to trim production this month by scaling back the hours of about 4,000 workers at two truck-making plants in Germany and Austria.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
