Austrian cranemaker Palfinger expects growth to slow in the second half as demand in Europe slackens, it said, while reporting second-quarter operating profit that narrowly missed market expectations. "Since May 2014, Palfinger has recorded a slight decrease in demand in some of the European core markets while considerable growth potential is still seen in the non-European regions and the global marine business area," it said. "This circumstance and Palfinger's trend monitoring suggest a moderately positive development in the second half of 2014. Nevertheless, the management expects a double-digit (percentage) increase in revenue in the current financial year." Palfinger had forecast double-digit sales growth in February, when it said it had seen a "slight upward trend" in Europe in the second half of 2013. It saw potential to boost annual sales to around 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) by 2017 by rolling out its broad product line in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) emerging markets. It said second-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell to 20.9 million euros from 21.1 million a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected EBIT of 22.2 million, up 5.2 percent. Revenue rose to 272.5 million, beating the poll average of 268 million. (Reuters)