The truck manufacturer Daimler Truck passes on the rising raw material and energy prices to the customers by means of price increases. The prices for trucks have been increased significantly and could rise further if costs continue to rise, CEO Martin Daum said on Thursday. Such discussions with customers are always difficult, “but we do it”. CFO Jochen Götz added that there were only a few cancellations after the significant price increases. “This underlines how strong the demand is and the need for trucks,” he said. Daimler Truck currently sees no risk that orders will be canceled due to the economic burden caused by the Ukraine war,
The Dax newcomer presented its first balance sheet as an independent group on Thursday after being spun off from Daimler AG. Despite the global situation, significant growth is expected in 2022. The company assumes “that neither the Covid 19 pandemic nor the war in Ukraine will have a negative impact on general market development”. The general economic conditions in the most important markets of North America and Europe continued to normalize. “We are determined to make our first year as an independent company a successful one for Daimler Truck,” said Daum.
Sales are expected to rise to a range of 500,000 to 520,000 commercial vehicles, after an increase of 20 percent to 455,400 units in 2020. At that time, the outbreak of the corona pandemic with lockdowns in many important markets had slowed down the heavily cyclical demand for trucks. In terms of sales, the world market leader for heavy trucks announced an increase to between 45.5 and 47.5 billion euros. In the past year, revenues had increased by ten percent to 39.5 billion euros.
The adjusted return on sales should reach between seven and nine percent. Last year, Daimler Truck just about achieved its own forecast with a return of 6.1 percent, after only 1.9 percent in the previous year. The figures were apparently well received by investors: Daimler Truck shares rose by five percent in early trading in Frankfurt.
The shortage of semiconductors slowed production in the second half of last year, especially for heavy commercial vehicles. Meanwhile, demand remained strong. The bottom line is that the world market leader for heavy trucks, which has been listed in the leading index Dax since this week, made a profit of 2.4 billion euros after a loss of 131 million euros in 2020. The company is the result of the splitting of Daimler AG into a car and a commercial vehicle division.