Mercedes-Benz Group achieved strong financial results in the first quarter 2023 with especially the Industrial Free Cash Flow exceeding capital market expectations.
Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered an adjusted Return on Sales of 14.8%, due to healthy net pricing, higher sales and a good product mix – despite negative effects from higher material costs and increased research and development expenses.
The adjusted Return on Sales of the Mercedes-Benz Vans division rose to 15.6% due to substantially improved net pricing and higher unit sales.
Mercedes Benz Group EBIT increased to € 5.5 billion, mainly resulting from the higher EBIT of the Mercedes-Benz Vans division.
The strong profitability of the automotive divisions translated into an industrial free cash flow of € 2.2 billion significantly exceeding market expectations.
The following figures for the first quarter 2023 are preliminary and unaudited:
- Mercedes-Benz Cars adj. Return on Sales of 14.8% (consensus: 13.4%)
- Mercedes-Benz Vans adj. Return on Sales of 15.6% (consensus: 13.1%)
- Mercedes-Benz Mobility adj. Return on Equity of 15.6% (consensus: 15.8%)
- Mercedes-Benz Group EBIT: € 5.5 billion (consensus: € 4.9 billion)
- Mercedes Benz Group Industrial Free Cash Flow: € 2.2 billion (consensus: € 1.2 billion)
The company also has been able to post solid growth rates for both battery electric and Top-End Vehicles in the first quarter.
“In a challenging market environment, we have once again demonstrated resilience. Strong pricing significantly outweighed headwinds from material costs and led to another quarter of solid financial results at Mercedes-Benz.”
Harald Wilhelm, Chief Financial Officer of Mercedes-Benz Group AG
The full quarterly results and interim report will be published on April 28th, 2023.
EBIT, Return on Sales (RoS) adjusted, Return on Equity (RoE) adjusted and Industrial Free Cash Flow are defined on p. 48 of the Mercedes-Benz Group Annual Report 2022.