CNH Global posted a net sales increase of 25 percent for the year 2011 to $18.1 billion, compared with 14.5 billion in 2010. For the fourth quarter, sales jumped 27 percent from $3.76 billion in Q410 to $4.77 billion in the recently concluded quarter.

Net equipment sales for the year were 79 percent agricultural equipment and 21 percent construction. North America accounted for 42 percent of sales, 32 percent from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and CIS, 16 percent from Latin America and 10 percent from Asia Pacific and China.

The company projects construction equipment demand to continue to increase in 2012, with industry unit sales expected to rise 15 to 20 percent.

Construction equipment sales leapt 32 percent for the year from $2.95 billion in 2010 to $3.88 billion in 2011. Fourth-quarter sales jumped 39 percent from $774 million in Q410 to $1.073 billion in the recently concluded quarter. Operating profit improved in 2011 to $55 million as a result of unit demand of newly launched products in light and heavy equipment segments, increased industrial utilization and positive comparative pricing.

In the heavy equipment segment, the supply of whole goods and components improved in the second half of 2011 as Japanese suppliers returned to normalcy and the APAC excavator market slowed down. Trading conditions in Europe deteriorated in the fourth quarter as a result of the European financial crisis, and in Latin America demand for heavy equipment diminished as infrastructure spending was deferred into 2012.