8. Contingent Liabilities

A contingent liability is a possible obligation that arises from past events and whose existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more uncertain future events, or a present obligation whose amount cannot be measured reliably or where it is not probable that an outflow of resources will be required to settle the obligation. The Group has contingent liabilities as follows as a result of giving guarantees (excluding product warranties):

Guarantees consist of contingent liabilities relating to buy-back arrangements entered into by Gottwald Port Technology GmbH in connection with sales of certain of its plant and machinery products. The maximum potential liability from buy-back arrangements amounted to EUR 55,300,000 at 30 June 2010 (30 June 2009: EUR 52,724,000).