Truck maker Traton selling Russian assets, to record loss of 550 mln euros

MUNICH. Sept 13 (Interfax) - Truck and bus manufacturers MAN Truck & Bus SE and Scania AB are selling their dealership businesses in Russia to local partners, according to a statement from their parent company, Germany's Traton Group, a subsidiary of Volkswagen.

The statement indicates that Scania will also dissolve its Russian financial unit.

The sale of assets is expected to conclude by the end of 2022, subject to the approval of the supervisory boards of Traton and Volkswagen, as well as Russian regulators.

As a result, Traton expects to record a loss of up to 550 million euros (the figure may change depending on fluctuations in the ruble-euro exchange rate). The group said in its statement that this will not affect the annual forecast of adjusted operating profit and net cash flow for 2022.

Previously, the company already recorded a write-down of 113 million euros in H1 2022 due to the "direct impact" of the conflict in Ukraine.

Scania and MAN were notable players on the truck market in Russia. According to the Avtostat info portal, slightly more than 100 thousand medium- and heavy-duty trucks were sold in Russia in 2021. Scania and MAN together accounted for more than 12% of the market. KAMAZ remained the leader with a share of 36%.

Traton shares were down 1.2% in trading on Tuesday. The market value of the company has fallen by 36.2% to €6.91 billion since the beginning of the year.