Rába Q2 loss narrows on Russia/E-Europe revenue

Rába Nyrt, a Hungarian maker of vehicle parts and military trucks, said Q2 loss shrank on higher sales in Russia and other eastern European countries. The net loss narrowed to Ft 644 million in the three months ended June 30, from Ft 1.2 billion a year ago, Rába said in a stock exchange statement on Friday. Sales rose 16.3 % to Ft 13.1 billion. Rába, which supplies buyers including ArvinMeritor Inc., has been relocating production, laying off workers and selling unused assets since its biggest-ever loss in 2003. The company is now focusing sales efforts on eastern Europe to offset lagging demand by US clients. “By the end of the H1 we managed to double our sales in eastern Europe and former Soviet states, to more than € 10 million ($ 13 million)” CEO István Pintér said in the statement. Rába, on June 22, said it received a € 1 million order for axles from a Russian client, which will help the Hungarian company almost double sales in Russia to € 20 million this year from € 11 million in 2005. The company posted an operating profit of Ft 283 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of Ft 535 million a year earlier, it said. Pintér has said he expects annual revenue to rise to more than Ft 50 billion from last year's Ft 47.3 billion. (Bloomberg)