Rise in overseas profits at Caterpillar

As the US heads towards recession, Caterpillar has reported an increase in quarterly profit on strong international sales.

Profit in the last quarter of 2007 rose 11% to $975 million (£490 million), with revenue increasing by 10% to $12.14 billion helped by a weak US dollar that makes American products more affordable.

The US construction-equipment maker said it expects resilient overseas economies to drive strong sales and profit growth this year.

Caterpillar’s chief executive Jim Owens said while we expect anaemic growth in the US economy, we continue to see positive conditions for our sales in most of the rest of the world. Sales in North America fell 11% but sales in the rest of the world increased 31%.

A spokesperson for the company said global markets for mining, energy and infrastructure development are booming. The spokesperson added that the prospect of the US economy falling into recession was a ‘real possibility‘.

An analyst at Morningstar believes that the company ’can weather a weaker US market‘ provided the global economy stays out of recession.

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