Daimler AG said it continued along its successful path with record levels of unit sales and revenue and significantly increased earnings in the first quarter of 2015.
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With total sales of 641,600 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, the Group sold 13% more vehicles than in the first quarter of last year. Mercedes-Benz Cars increased its sales by 18% to 459,700 vehicles, achieving its best-ever first quarter in terms of unit sales.
Group revenue in the first quarter of €34.2 billion was 16% above the figure for the prior-year period. Adjusted for the effects of exchange-rate changes, revenue growth amounted to 9%.
The Group achieved EBIT of €2,906 million (Q1 2014: €1,787 million). Due to the positive development of the biggest divisions, EBIT from the ongoing business also improved significantly to €2,930 million (Q1 2014: €2,072 million) by 41%. Net profit also rose by a substantial 89% to €2,050 million.
Mercedes-Benz Cars primarily contributed to the increase in EBIT by 63%. The development of the division’s earnings was mainly the result of further growth in unit sales in all regions. Earnings increased also significantly at Daimler Trucks and Mercedes-Benz Vans.
Due to market conditions, Daimler Buses was unable to match its very high earnings of the prior-year period. Daimler Financial Services’ earnings increased primarily as a result of its higher contract volume. Changes in exchange rates had an overall positive impact on operating profit.
Furthermore, the special items shown in the table on page 10 affected EBIT in the first quarter of 2015 and 2014.
The expense of €751 million entered under income-tax expense for the first quarter increased by €187 million compared with the first quarter of last year due to the substantial increase in profit before income taxes. Net profit almost doubled to €2,050 million (Q1 2014: €1,086 million).
Net profit of €87 million is attributable to non-controlling interests (Q1 2014: €59 million). Net profit attributable to the shareholders of Daimler AG amounts to €1,963 million (Q1 2014: €1,027 million); earnings per share increased to €1.83 (Q1 2014: €0.96).
Compared with December 31, 2014, the net liquidity of the industrial business increased from €17.0 billion to €20.5 billion. The increase mainly reflects the higher free cash flow of the industrial business of €2.3 billion and positive exchange-rate effects.
At the end of the first quarter of 2015, Daimler had a total workforce of 283,541 employees worldwide (end of 2014: 279,972; end of Q1 2014: 276,322). 170,296 of them were employed in Germany (end of 2014: 168,909; end of Q1 2014: 167,746). ■
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