Scania underlined its strength as an independent company on Monday after reporting a 37 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter of the year.

The Swedish company reported net profit of SKr1.75bn ($273m) compared with SKr1.28bn previously on a 21 per cent increase in revenues. The operating margin was 12.8 per cent compared with 12.2 per cent previously. MAN of Germany failed in a hostile €10.3bn ($14.84bn) bid for Scania last year, although there have been persistent rumours that an alliance may occur.