MAN SE, German truck maker and engineering firm, reported a net loss of 270 million euros, or 1.84 euros a basic share for 2009 as compared with net income of 1.23 billion euros, or 8.39 euros in 2008.

Europe's third largest truck maker reported a fourth-quarter loss to the tune of €72 million including minority interests as compared with profit €177 million reported in corresponding quarter last year as sales fell 18 percent to €3.26 billion.

MAN said it planned to offer a dividend of 25 cents per share down from €2.00 last year."2010 will not be a year of recovery in the classical sense but stabilization can be expected," CEO Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said in the company's annual report.

However the MAN's Chief Executive Georg Pachta-Reyhofen told reporters in Munich that order intake in January was higher than in December last year. Business at the commercial-vehicle unit is expected to remain at the current level this year, prompting MAN to plan on shortened work hours at the unit for 50 days through June, the manufacturer said today.

Orders increased by 35% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to €2.64 billion and the company said it expects growth in Latin American business.