Hot! Germany’s Daimler Posts Higher Profit, Sales in Second Quarter

[far2000]

Earnings rose on the back of new model launches and strong sales growth in China, the US and Western Europe. Prices of the Mercedes-Maybach S600 start at 187,841 euros.


But despite the unprecedented success, boss Dieter Zetsche was remaining sober.

Mercedes-Benz cars are flying off the production line like never before, driving parent company Daimler closer to its goal of overtaking rivals Audi and BMW. Moreover, these companies are also making interest-free finance and offering cars without down payment also. In addition, Audi lowered its sales target in China from 600,000 units to 579,000 units the same of previous year. BMW said it delivered 455,979 BMW and Mini-branded passenger cars in China in 2014.

BERLIN- Daimler AG, the German automotive group, reported higher revenue and profit in the second quarter and confirmed the company’s outlook for the full year.

The world’s biggest vehicle market, China is paying attention to what manufacturers are bringing out and BMW and Audi are not up to par with Mercedes in terms of new models launched this year. Mercedes-Benz Cars had its best quarter so far for unit sales, with growth of 20% to 500,700 vehicles sold.

Through the first half of 2015, Daimler’s net profit is up 35 percent over the same period last year to 4.422 billion euros, and board member Bodo Uebber said the company is “on the right track to fulfill our forecasts for the year 2015″.

Analyst Juergen Pieper of Bankhaus Metzler said: “The Stuttgarters are leaving the pack behind”. “That could continue for the next five or six quarters”.

The availability of the new C-Class and demand for compact cars like the GLA will help drive sales in the world’s largest auto market, Zetsche said.

July will be another strong sales month for luxury cars and momentum will continue into next year as well, Zetsche said explaining this would underpin a new level of profitability.

In a ring to talk about second-quarter achievements, Zetsche was in fact required no matter he appeared to be thinking of hacker flareups on MercedesovervallenBenz autos.

http://www.pressexaminer.com/germany-s-daimler-posts-higher-profit-sales-in-second-quarter/10756

 

[far2000]

Daimler's Mercedes Ends The First Half With Solid Growth In Operating Profits:

Daimler AG announced solid Q2 and mid-term results last week, with wins across its luxury vehicles and medium and heavy commercial vehicles portfolios. Revenues rose 19% year-over-year in Q2 on a 14% increase in unit sales. While negative currency translations have dragged down the financials of companies, especially those based out of the U.S., Daimler is set to benefit from the strengthening dollar, and other foreign currencies, against the euro. For the full year, favorable exchange rates could add approximately €1 billion to Daimler’s pretax profit, which is good news for shareholders. But apart from the inorganic growth due to currency translations, the group has ended the first half of 2015 with strong organic growth, especially for its premium brand Mercedes-Benz.

We have a $96 price estimate for Daimler AG, which is above the current market price.

See Our Complete Analysis For Daimler AG

Mercedes forms approximately 63% of Daimler’s valuation, according to our estimates. The luxury brand lags both BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi in terms of global vehicle sales, but has slowly but surely narrowed its gap with both its compatriots in the last year or two. While sales for the global leader in premium vehicle sales, BMW, are up 5.1% year-over-year through the first half of the year, and that for Audi (the second highest-seller) are up only 3.8%, Mercedes’ volume sales are up a solid 14.7% to 898,425 vehicles. In fact, Mercedes is now only less than 4,000 units behind Audi in the race for the second highest-selling premium automaker in the world. However, improving volume sales is not the focal point of our discussion, the turnaround in profitability is.

Mercedes was already catching up with BMW and Audi in terms of volumes, but this year the German number three has caught up in terms of profitability as well. With a 19% rise in revenues in Q2, over the previous year, and a whopping 58% rise in operating profits, the brand’s EBIT margins have reached 10.5%– higher than that at Audi presently. The company has recuperated well after one-time costs associated with the launch of new/refreshed models had lowered operating margins to around 3% in the first quarter of 2013. The strong revenue growth for Daimler didn’t reflect in its free cash flow due to the large investment expenses. However, a solid rise in vehicle sales, favorable product mix, and efficiency initiatives such as the ‘Fit for Leadership’ program have helped Mercedes sequentially improve its operating margins, from 8% in 2014, to 9.4% in Q1, and 10.5% now.

 

[Rolf]

It's going to be closer this year between the 3 brands maybe end of this year Mercedes could snatch 2nd place from Audi and be biting at BMWs heals