The VW commercial vehicle subsidiary Traton After strong year-end business, we are entering the new year with unexpectedly high goals. CEO Christian Levin (57) sees the still high order backlog as a basis, and the manager also expects further efficiency gains through the merging of the group’s brands, as it was said on Tuesday from Munich.
Last year, Traton exceeded market expectations with its brands Scania, MAN, Navistar and the South American Volkswagen Truck & Bus. Sales rose by 16 percent to a record result of 46.9 billion euros. The adjusted operating result almost doubled to 4.03 billion euros, and the corresponding margin increased by 3.5 percentage points to 8.6 percent. In addition to higher sales and better sales price enforcement, better utilization of the plants drove up profitability. In the previous year, the shortage of parts, particularly for electronic chips, had significantly restricted production in many cases.
Dividend should increase
The earnings pearl Scania once again achieved a double-digit percentage margin and the savings program at the former problem child MAN is now bearing fruit. The US brand Navistar also became more profitable. In South America the margin fell because of stricter emissions regulations in the important market Brazil There were pull-forward effects at the end of 2022. However, the smallest division, Volkswagen Truck & Bus, still generated a higher return than MAN and Navistar.
At 2.45 billion euros, the profit attributable to shareholders was also more than twice as high as the year before at 1.14 billion euros. The dividend should therefore increase from 70 cents to 1.50 euros per paper. In response to the report, Traton shares recently rose by 3.7 percent.
For the new financial year, Traton management is now aiming for a range of minus 5 to plus 10 percent for sales and revenue compared to the previous year. The board expects the operating profit margin adjusted for special effects to be between 8 and 9 percent. Analysts have so far had values at the lower end of the range for both values. In the vehicle business alone – i.e. excluding financial services – Traton was aiming for a return on sales of 9 to 10 percent, which was similar to that of its competitor Daimler Truck (9 to 10.5 percent).
Spending on research and development is also expected to increase, albeit only moderately. The Volkswagen Group had already announced before the weekend that it would invest a lot of money in development and systems this year.
Contract with board member Carlbaum extended
Traton also announced a contract extension on Monday: Mathias Carlbaum will remain on the board of the VW commercial vehicle subsidiary for another five years. The manager was confirmed as a board member by the supervisory board with effect from October 1, 2024 to September 2029. Carlbaum became head of the US truck manufacturer Navistar in September 2021 and has been a member of the Traton board since October 2021.