Piaggio 2007 core profit up 10.8 pct

MILAN, March 7 (Reuters) - Piaggio (PIA.MI), the Italian maker of the Vespa scooter, reported a 10.8 percent rise in core profit for 2007 on Friday on higher sales.

It also said in a statement its board had proposed a dividend of 0.06 euros a share.

Core profit -- or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) -- totalled 226.1 million euros ($348.4 million) for the year.

Net sales rose 5.3 percent to 1.69 billion euros. (Reporting by Gilles Castonguay)