The commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck After a decline in profits in the new year, you want to earn more money in day -to -day business. An increasing heel should contribute to this, the order intake from the final quarter gives hope. In particular, the house brand Mercedes-Benz, which is strongly represented in Europe, suffered from the economic weakness on the home continent in 2024 Germany; Management continues to expect the European market weakly. The CEO Karin Rådström (46), which has only been in office for a few months, also wants to reduce costs by over one billion euros by 2030 with a savings program in Europe.
The result, which was adjusted for special effects before interest and taxes, is expected to increase by 5 to 15 percent compared to the previous year, as the Dax group announced on Friday in Leinfelden-Echterdingen. Last year the operating result fell 15 percent to 4.7 billion euros.
Due to the difficult economic situation in Europe and Asia, sales decreased by 3 percent to 54.1 billion euros. In addition, high value adjustments burdened. Before interest and taxes, these cost 591 million euros. The bottom line was that the profit attributable to shareholders collapsed by almost a quarter to 2.9 billion euros. However, the dividend should remain stable at 1.90 euros per share.
Sales and sales should increase
In the industrial business – i.e. expected without financial services – the operational margin decreased by one percentage point to 8.9 percent. In the new year, the group wants to reach 8 to 10 percent here. The good order input in the final quarter gives hope: While orders decreased by 2 percent in the entire year, the orders rose 15 percent to 124,046 vehicles in the fourth quarter.
Rådström and CFO Eva Scherer in industrial business assume sales of between 52 and 54 billion euros. A year earlier, this was 50.7 billion. In the case of sales, it should finally go up to a good 460,000 vehicles again after the minus of 12 percent. The Swabians have calculated 460,000 to 480,000 sales.
In Europe, management had already promised a savings program for the Mercedes-Benz brand. So far, however, the group has not mentioned savings goals. The news agency dpa and other media had already learned from corporate circles that it should be more than a billion euros by 2030 at the latest. Details remained open. Talks started with employee representatives, it said.
To date, CEO Rådström has been able to rely on the humming truck business in North America. Despite a small drop in sales, Daimler Truck earned more there last year and increased profitability.
Trump’s customs war has dangers
But now there is a risk because the situation in the tariffs between the USA, Mexico and Canada is very fragile. UBS analyst Hemal Bhundia estimates that the North America division of Daimler Truck-including with the brands Freightliner and Western Star-produces around three quarters of their trucks in Mexico. As Daimler struggles with possible tariffs, he recently wrote down on how strongly the group can expand production in the United States.
The manufacturer could also slow down the fact that US President Donald Trump (78) wants to tip stricter exhaust gas rules. Many analysts have previously expected to have more efficient drive technology due to planned tightening of emission limits. The share had come under a lot of pressure due to Trump’s plans the day before.