Dieter Zetsche at the Annual General Meeting
“We can not and will not be satisfied with the current profitability level.”
(Photo: AFP)
BerlinNach more than four decades in the company and 13 years as Daimler-Chef is final: Dieter Zetsche Goes in pension. The man, who Daimler after this ChryslerDisaster rescued, turned on Wednesday one last time to the shareholders and looked back at his era.
“In my first speech before the Annual General Meeting in 2006, I said: Our aim is to bring the company back to the top,” explained Zetsche. At that time, the Mercedes manufacturer was far behind in sales, archrival BMW was far away. And today? Does Daimler fulfill its own claim (“The best or nothing”): “In many areas, yes,” said Zetsche.
The brand with the star is back since 2016 the undisputed number one among the premium manufacturers, During his tenure, the mustache bearer has increased the turnover of Daimler by almost 70 billion to last 167 billion euros. The added net profit under Zetsches guidance amounts to 76 billion euro.
“With Dieter Zetsche goes an exceptional manager,” Chairman of the Supervisory Board Manfred Bischoff praised the performance of the 66-year-olds: “He deserves our unqualified gratitude.”
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Zetsche reacts with emotion to these words, has tears in his eyes and bows with tie around his neck in front of the shareholders. Under his aegis, the rigid industrial conglomerate, which not only includes the brand-name passenger cars division, but also Daimler Trucks, the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, has made significant progress. That is indisputable.
“From a shareholder perspective, we can still draw only a mixed balance of the era Zetsche today,” complains Janne Werning of Union Investment, the fund company of the Volksbanks and Raiffeisen banks. Including dividends, the Daimler share has been weaker than the total since 2006 Lead index Dax developed and significantly weaker than the shares of BMW and VW,
“For the top position in the premium segment, the shareholders could not buy anything, because Daimler has never really managed to generate premium margins from premium prices,” says Werning: “So fast the money came in, so quickly it was spent again.” Daimler had a chronic problem of efficiency, Zetsche had not acted more forward-looking, but only responded.
Ingo Speich from Deka Investment also takes a tough stand with Zetsche: “The CO2 balance of the Mercedes new-car fleet in Europe is catastrophic and there is no sign of recovery”. In fact, the CO2 fleet value of Mercedes has not fallen in the past year, but slightly increased to 132 grams per kilometer driven.
Marge is under pressure
“This is a scary step backwards,” explains Speich. Finally, the EU is pushing for cleaner engines, and by 2021, Mercedes will have to push its fleet CO2 limits below 105 grams per kilometer, otherwise it will face severe fines.
The margin of Daimler threatens to continue to come under pressure. The group’s profit in 2018 has already plummeted by almost 30 percent. In the first quarter, the Stuttgart earned no money, but burned two billion euros.
The return on sales of the former earnings pearl Mercedes Benz Cars has crashed from nine to 6.1 percent, in the Vans and buses division even writes the losses. The result of the financial division is enhanced by a special effect. On the other hand, the Stuttgart companies are no longer operational.
“The transformation of the company also has a financial impact,” admits Zetsche. In the past five years alone, Daimler has almost doubled its annual investment. The new technologies – from gesture control to electric drives to autonomous driving – would have their price, Zetsche tried to moderate the shareholders. And he promises: “Everything is under scrutiny: fixed and variable costs, material and personnel costs, investment projects, the depth of added value and the product range”.
It is up to his successor Ola Källenius To bring Daimler back on track and to achieve the announced target return of eight to ten percent in the passenger car segment. “I am firmly convinced that Ola is the right person to lead our company successfully into the future,” concludes Zetsche. The native Swede is facing a mammoth task. For this, the group first misses a new structure.
The conglomerate is to make way for three legally independent units (cars, trucks, mobility services) under the umbrella of Daimler AG. If the shareholders approve, Källenius will keep the holding company and the passenger car division in the same team and supervise the truck division as supervisor. Källenius combines a gigantic power with it. Now he has to use it.
More: At Daimler eroded the profit, now is saved. The costs in the administration are to decrease by 20 per cent. The Handelsblatt balance check shows how it is ordered to the car manufacturer.
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