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UPDATE 1-Weak Europe drives MAN SE to higher-than-expected loss

* Q1 operating loss 82 mln euros vs Rtrs poll avg 22 mln

* No signs of strong recovery in Europe in 2013 - CEO

* MAN reiterates expects significant profit drop (Adds detail, CEO comment)

By Andreas Cremer

BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Germany's MAN SE slipped to a first-quarter loss and posted lower-than-expected new orders as the slump in European truck markets continued due to the region's prolonged economic weakness.

The Volkswagen-owned truck maker on Friday reported an operating loss of 82 million euros ($107 million), almost four times the size of the loss predicted by analysts.

Orders worth 3.75 billion euros also missed expectations.

"We still don't anticipate any significant economic recovery in 2013," chief executive Georg Pachta-Reyhofen said.

Munich-based MAN, which also has diesel engine and turbines businesses, is bracing for a "significant decline" in underlying earnings this year and expects sales to be flat.

In its previous outlook published on Feb. 8, the company predicted sales would decline "slightly" from last year's 15.8 billion euros.

Truck manufacturers have been mired in problems for months as the ongoing debt crisis in the European single-currency area and sluggish activity in North America have weighed heavily on the highly-cyclical demand for commercial vehicles.

Sales of heavy-duty trucks in the 27-nation European Union plunged 18.3 percent in March to 17,949 units, extending the first-quarter decline to 16.7 percent, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said on Friday.

First-quarter orders at MAN's trucks division, which accounts for over half of 3.55 billion euros in group sales, tumbled 16 percent. MAN is expecting European truck sales to continue to fall but is counting on a rebound in Brazil, where it is market leader.

MAN has been responding to shrinking demand from haulier companies and construction firms by cutting costs and halting production at plants in Germany. Still, the group's profit margin will fall clearly below 6.1 percent in 2013, MAN said, after a margin of 9 percent in 2011.

But there are signs a recovery may be on the horizon.

Volvo, the world's No. 2 truck maker, posted a surprise 11-percent rise in first-quarter orders this week and said it would step up production, while Swedish rival Scania reported a 28-percent surge in orders.

($1 = 0.7689 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Peter Dinkloh and Mark Potter)