As expected, Daimler AG presents a slightly more positive forecast for its 2020 earnings. Mercedes-Benz parent company has had an unexpectedly good quarter, which is translating into encouraging figures.
Earlier this month it became clear that the third quarter of 2020 was going better for Daimler than initially thought. At that time the expectation was expressed that this might have consequences for the expectation for the rest of the year.
Today Daimler presents an extensive quarterly report in which the expectation for 2020 is indeed adjusted upwards. Where it was previously assumed that a significant fall in profit was assumed, a result is now assumed that is comparable to that of last year. Things were going well then, but the operating result (EBIT) came to € 10.3 billion.
It is striking that the good results are achieved while fewer cars are sold. In the third quarter, Daimler’s Mercees Cars & Vans division sold 4 percent less than last year, but profit increased from more than € 1.8 billion to more than 2.4 billion. In short, more money is earned per car sold. For the whole of 2020, Daimler expects this return on sales to be between 4.5 and 5.5 percent. In 2019, this number remained at 4 percent, after 7.8 percent in the previous year.
In the battle to boost that profit margin a bit further, Mercedes-Benz is also thinking about a small reduction in the range. That doesn’t hurt, because with 19 models, most of which with multiple body styles, there is more to choose from at Mercedes than at any other brand.