Caterpillar CEO Tells BLOOMBERG TV: Expects Strong Year in 2005

Caterpillar CEO Tells BLOOMBERG TV: Expects Strong Year in 2005

Exclusive Interview to Air on BLOOMBERG TV Tomorrow, Saturday, March 19

NEW YORK, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In a U.S. exclusive interview on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION(R), James Owens, Chief Executive Officer of Caterpillar Inc., stated that he expects a strong year in 2005 with profits likely rising about 25 percent. Mr. Owens also told BLOOMBERG TELEVISION that higher energy prices will help to spur new investment for natural resources, bolstering demand for Caterpillar's products.

"Fewer bottlenecks in manufacturing will allow us to improve our margins," Mr. Owens told Allan Dodds Frank of BLOOMBERG TELEVISION. He revealed on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION that he expects Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar to post another record year after earnings rose 85 percent to $2.04 billion on a 33 percent revenue increase to $30.3 billion in 2004.

Shipments by Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of mining and earthmoving equipment, climbed 50 percent last year as surging commodity prices boosted demand from the mining and trucking industries. Demand was "unprecedented," Mr. Owens told BLOOMBERG TELEVISION, with simultaneous increases in the mining, on-highway truck, oil and gas, coal and housing industries. Growth was strongest in Asia, South America and North America, he said.

"$60 a gallon oil prices are good for Caterpillar and it's not problematic for the world economy," Mr. Owens told BLOOMBERG TELEVISION. As standards of living increase in developing countries, there will be a gradual increase in the price of energy, he said.

The entire U.S. television interview can be seen starting at 6.30am (EST) Saturday, March 19th on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION worldwide. It can also be viewed by Bloomberg subscribers via the BLOOMBERG TERMINAL.

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Source: Bloomberg

CONTACT: Elizabeth Patella of Sloane & Company, +1-212-446-1870, epatella@sloanepr.com, for Bloomberg

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