April 26, 2019 - Daimler affirms 2019 targets for unit sales, revenue and earnings
- First-quarter Group unit sales down 4% to 773,800 units
- Revenue stable at €39.7 billion (Q1 2018: €39.8 billion)
- Group EBIT significantly lower at €2.8 billion (Q1 2018: €3.3 billion)
- Slight decrease in net profit to €2.1 billion (Q1 2018: €2.4 billion)
- Free cash flow of industrial business of minus €2.0 billion mainly due to higher inventories (Q1 2018: plus €1.8 billion)
- Outlook for 2019: slight growth in unit sales, revenue and earnings still expected
- Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “We cannot and will not be satisfied with this – as expected – moderate start to the year. We now have to work hard to achieve our targets for 2019. Based on our sales planning and the countermeasures we have already initiated, we are confident that we will achieve those targets. In the first few months of this year, we have consistently implemented further elements of our strategy and initiated several important projects: our cooperation at smart with Geely, the development of a joint platform for autonomous driving, and the merger of the mobility services with those of the BMW Group.”
- Bodo Uebber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services: “We had a comparatively weak start to the year and face numerous challenges along the entire value chain in all our automotive divisions. This had a negative impact on unit sales and earnings. Above all, high inventories and bottlenecks in the supply chain had a substantial negative impact on the cash flow. Nonetheless, we will continue to invest in our future – sensibly and with a clear focus.”