CNH Profits Improve

NEW YORK - Jul 24/06 - SNS -- CNH Global N.V. reports net income of U.S. $147 million on sales of $3,497 million for the three months ending June 30, compared to a net of $1214 million on sales of $3,394 million during the second quarter of the previous fiscal year.

This lifted net income for the first half of the current fiscal year to $190 million on sales of $6,447 million, compared to a net of $129 million on sales of $6,217 million during the same six month period of last year.

Net sales of equipment, comprising the company's agricultural and construction equipment businesses, were $3.5 billion for 2006, compared to $3.4 billion for the same period in 2005. Net of currency variations, net sales increased by 2% over the prior year.

Agricultural equipment net sales were $2.3 billion, down 1% from the prior year and down 2% excluding currency variations. Excluding currency variations, sales in Latin America were up 16%, sales in Rest-of-World markets were up 8%, and in Western Europe up 2%. Excluding currency variations, sales in North America declined by 9%, in line with the company's actions to reduce working capital by under-producing retail unit sales of major agricultural products by 15%, to reduce inventories in a declining industry environment.

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