Daimler in Stuttgart
The Mercedes manufacturer is currently angry with many of its shareholders.
Hamburg Daimler must expect strong dissatisfaction from dissatisfied shareholders at the Annual General Meeting. The fund company Union Investment does not want to discharge the board of directors and the supervisory board of the Stuttgart-based car group at the shareholders’ meeting on July 8 because of the diesel legacy issues and weakening profits.
“The white vest got stains,” quoted “Investment Week” Janne Werning from Union Investment on Friday. The fund company withdraws the Daimler-That’s why trust. In addition, the car company overslept the change to electromobility. The exhaust emissions of the Daimler fleet are much too high, the SUVs of the car manufacturer are “questionable in terms of climate policy”.
Shareholder adviser Glass Lewis, on the other hand, recommended Daimler shareholders on Thursday to abstain from voting due to ongoing investigations this year on the discharge of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. Until now, Glass Lewis had advised shareholders to refuse to discharge both bodies.
Small shareholders sharply criticize the Daimler leadership in several countermotions to the meeting held on the Internet. Over the years, supervisory board chief Manfred Bischoff had “accepted the autocratic work” of the former CEO Dieter Zetsche “apparently without criticism, instead of critically questioning the deficient strategy and the lack of cost awareness”, says one of the proposals.
No agreement with Tim Höttges
The umbrella organization of critical shareholders proposes to cut the dividend of 90 cents per share proposed for 2019 and to use the money instead to compensate for risks in the corona pandemic and to switch the products away from the combustion engine and towards electric drives. The small shareholders are concerned about the ongoing diesel proceedings, for which Daimler had to make high provisions. Already in 2019, the increasing risks in the exhaust gas scandal hailed the automaker’s balance sheet.
Against this background, Union Investment also refuses to pay a dividend. Daimler needs liquidity and capital for research and development. “Daimler should invest the money in environmentally friendly drives,” said Werning.
The fund company also wants the choice of Telekom boss Tim Höttges did not support the Daimler Supervisory Board. “Mr. Höttges is with his offices at Deutsche Telekom, Henkel and FC Bayern Munich are already more than busy, ”argues Werning. There is also a countermotion from a small shareholder.
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