Daimler Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2013 in Berlin: Dr. Dieter Zetsche reaffirms focus on growth and efficiency

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“Growth and efficiency: Daimler is staying the course” is not only the motto of today’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Daimler AG, but also describes the Group’s strategic focus. Daimler is pursuing the goal of reaching the top of the respective sectors. “We are Daimler. We don’t only want to get better. We want to beat the competition – on a permanent basis,” stated Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, with regard to the Group’s goals, according to the text of his speech.

“In 2012, Daimler continued to grow,” Zetsche said about the past financial year before an expected number of approximately 5,000 shareholders at the Berlin Trade Fair Center (Berliner Messe). The Group achieved record unit sales and revenue in 2012. Worldwide, 2.2 million vehicles were sold and Group revenue increased by 7% to €114.3 billion (2011: €106.5 billion). Group EBIT amounted to €8.6 billion (2011: €8.8 billion), and Group EBIT from the ongoing business amounted to €8.1 billion (2011: €9.0 billion). Net profit increased to €6.5 billion (2011: €6.0 billion), and value added rose to €4.2 billion (2011: €3.7 billion).

In view of the earnings achieved and the course of business in the year 2012, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board recommended the distribution of a stable dividend of €2.20 per share (2011: €2.20). This represents a total dividend of approximately €2.35 billion or a distribution ratio of about 40%.

Affirmation of long-term strategy and goals

Zetsche formulated clear objectives for the Daimler Group: “We strive to be a sustainably competitive company that not only produces the S-Class, but which is the S-Class.”

Daimler is pursuing the following specific targets of

- selling at least 1.6 million Mercedes-Benz passenger cars each year as of 2015 and leading the way in the premium segment also in terms of unit sales by 2020,

- consolidating its leading role in the truck sector by selling more than 500,000 units in 2015 and over 700,000 units in 2020, and

- growing also in its other divisions.

In addition to the growth targets, the Group has corresponding profitability goals. In the medium term, it strives to achieve an average return on sales of 9 percent from its vehicle operations across all market and product cycles, with return targets for the individual divisions of 10% for Mercedes-Benz Cars, 8% for Daimler Trucks, 9% for Mercedes-Benz Vans and 6% for Daimler Buses. The target for Daimler Financial Services is a return on equity of 17%.

Growth strategies supplemented by efficiency programs

“In order to achieve those goals, we have started the biggest growth program in the company’s history: Daimler is growing — at a faster pace, on a broader scale, and in more markets than ever before,” explained Zetsche at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

The goals are to be achieved on the basis of far-reaching product offensives in all divisions, through expansion of the model ranges, the creation of new segments and close adaptation of products and services to regional customer requirements. Across all of its divisions, Daimler has focused on four strategic growth areas in recent years: strengthening the core business, penetrating new markets, expanding its leadership on green technologies and safety, and implementing new types of mobility concept supported by innovations at the interface between mobility and digital networking.

Zetsche emphasized, however: “We don’t want to grow at any price. Our growth has to be sustainably profitable.” To those ends, the growth strategies of the individual divisions have been supplemented with effective efficiency programs.

In the area of passenger cars, the Fit for Leadership efficiency program is an integral part of the Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy. In the area of trucks, the Global Excellence Strategy that started in 2005 has been reinforced with the initiative Daimler Trucks Number One. Similar programs are in place at the other divisions: Performance Vans 2013 at Mercedes-Benz Vans, Globe 2013 at Daimler Buses and DFS 2020 at Daimler Financial Services. In total, this is expected to improve the Group’s cost position by €4 billion by the end of next year.

For 2013 and the following years, the focus is on the consistent implementation of the defined measures and programs. “The objective for this year is to stay the course, continue our growth and enhance our efficiency,” stated Zetsche.

Unit sales in 2013 – status quo and expectations

Many markets were weaker than expected at the beginning of 2013. That applies in particular to the markets for cars and commercial vehicles in Europe. Nonetheless, in the first three months of this year, the Group sold more cars, vans and buses than in the prior-year period.

First-quarter wholesale shipments by Mercedes-Benz Cars increased compared with last year by 1% (retail 3%). The division expects sales impetus from the very good demand for the compact-class models, as well as from the CLA, the third model in the compact class, the new E-Class and the new S-Class, which will have its world premiere in May. Despite the difficult first quarter, Mercedes-Benz Cars assumes that with expansion of the total car market of 2 to 4 percent, its wholesale shipments will increase in full-year 2013.

Daimler Trucks increased its market shares in the first three months of the year, although wholesale shipments decreased by 6%. Thanks to Daimler Trucks’ global spread and its strong, continuously growing product portfolio, the division anticipates slight growth in wholesale shipments as the year progresses. This development will be supported by the new truck for the construction sector, the Mercedes-Benz Arocs, and the new medium-duty truck, the Mercedes-Benz Atego.

First-quarter wholesale shipments by Mercedes-Benz Vans were slightly higher than in the prior-year period (+3%). The division expects growth impetus from the new generation of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, which will be available as of mid-2013. In regional terms, growth prospects are varied: While demand for vans in Western Europe could continue to fall, the division anticipates a slight recovery in China as well as sales stimulus in North and Latin America.

Wholesale shipments by Daimler Buses were better than in the first quarter of last year (+23%). The division also expects an increase in wholesale shipments for the full year compared with 2012. In Europe, there will be contributions to this growth from the new Mercedes-Benz Tourismo and the new Setra TopClass 500. In Mexico, the launch of an all-new product family of five coach variants and city buses is being prepared.

The growth of the vehicle divisions is also reflected by the development of Daimler Financial Services: Its new business once again increased in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same period of last year. In 2013, the division intends to pass the mark of three million leasing and financing contracts for the first time. Daimler Financial Services sees considerable potential in the expansion of its business with innovative mobility services.

Not much tailwind is anticipated from the markets in the coming months. For Europe in particular, there are no signs of a trend reversal. Daimler will therefore reassess whether its previous market-related assumptions for 2013 are still valid and will provide further information regarding market and earnings expectations for the Group and its divisions for the full year in the first-quarter reporting.

Thanks to new products and the efficiency programs now running, Daimler assumes that earnings in the second half of the year will be higher than in the first half.

Zetsche is confident that these goals will be achieved: “The course we have set is the right one – but we have to follow it. And we will follow it – undeterred by the ups and downs of the markets. Consistently and persistently.”

The full speech document (English version) of Dr. Dieter Zetsche at the Daimler Annual Shareholder's Meeting 2013 --> HERE

Credits: Daimler AG

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Daimler AG approves dividend of €2.20 per share for 2012

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At the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of Daimler AG in Berlin on Wednesday, the shareholders approved the distribution of a dividend for the year 2012 of €2.20 per share (prior year: €2.20). The total dividend payout amounts to €2,349 million.

The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting also reelected Ms. Sari Baldauf and Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht as members of the Supervisory Board representing the shareholders for a further five years. Furthermore, the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting elected Ms. Andrea Jung for the first time as a member of the Supervisory Board for five years.

The members of the Supervisory Board representing the employees were elected in March and their period of office begins with the end of the 2013 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. The members reelected are Erich Klemm, Michael Brecht, Jürgen Langer and Jörg Spies. Elke Tönjes-Werner and Wolfgang Nieke were elected for the first time as members representing the employees. The members of the Supervisory Board representing the trade unions are Jörg Hofmann (as before) and Sabine Maaßen (a new member). Valter Sanches continues to be a member of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG on the employee side as a trade union member from outside Germany. Dr. Frank Weber was elected to the Supervisory Board for the first time and represents the senior management for the next five-year period. The newly elected members Elke Tönjes-Werner and Sabine Maaßen are the first female members of the Supervisory Board representing the employees. Elections for the Supervisory Board members of the employee side are held every five years.

The actions of the members of the Board of Management were ratified by 98.62% of the votes cast and the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board were ratified by 98.60% of the votes cast.

The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting was held at the Berlin Trade Fair Center (Berliner Messe) and was attended by approximately 5,000 shareholders and shareholder representatives (prior year: 5,700). 29.32% of the share capital was represented.

The dividend will be paid out on April 11, 2013 to all shareholders who held Daimler shares on April 10, 2013.

Credits: Daimler AG

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Dr. Dieter Zetsche at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting: “Daimler is on the way to its best form.”

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Daimler AG has made an excellent start to the year 2012. “Our company is on the way to its best form, but is not there yet. We are confident we can do more, and that also applies to our share price,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, according to the text of his speech to the expected 5,800 shareholders at the International Congress Center (ICC) in Berlin.

In the first three months of the year 2012, the Group once again sold more vehicles than in the same period of last year. Unit sales by Mercedes-Benz Cars in the period of January through March increased by 12% to more than 340,000 units compared with the prior-year period. The division thus achieved its best-ever first quarter and its best-ever monthly unit sales in March. The growth drivers since January have been the C-Class models (plus 27%), the S-Class (plus 18%) and the SUV segment (plus 8%). There was also strong demand for the new B-Class, the first of five cars in the new compact range, with orders received for over 100,000 units to date. Although the B-Class is so far only available in Europe, more than 35,000 cars have already been delivered to customers. In September, the new A-Class will be launched, the second car of the new compact car portfolio.

Global car markets should grow by 4% this year. “At Mercedes, we’re on a roll, and we want to beat that,” said Zetsche and affirmed the unit-sales forecast for Mercedes-Benz Cars. The division assumes that this year it will surpass the unit-sales record it set in 2011.

The Daimler Trucks division was also very successful with its strong product portfolio; according to preliminary figures, it sold about 107,000 vehicles from January through March of this year (plus 20%). A major contribution came from Daimler Trucks North America with growth of 41%. Fuso also continued its positive development in Japan, while unit sales in Europe and Latin America decreased by 5%.

From today’s perspective, the division anticipates further growth in unit sales in 2012. In any case, the new Actros is likely to gain market share in the euro zone. The opening of a new plant in Chennai, India in the next few days will be an important step towards conquering new sales markets. As of the third quarter, trucks will be produced specifically for the Indian market under the “BharatBenz” brand.

The Mercedes-Benz Vans division's core markets developed as follows in the first three months of the year: Unit sales increased by 23% in North America and by 10% in Latin America, despite the upcoming model change for the Sprinter in the latter market. In Europe, however, unit sales decreased by 8%. The division is nonetheless confident for the full year that it will maintain the level of unit sales in the euro zone that it achieved in 2011. As of September, sales will be stimulated by the new Citan city van, following its debut at Germany’s IAA international motor show for commercial vehicles in that month. This new small van targets a segment with a total volume of about 700,000 vehicles per annum, of which Mercedes-Benz Vans intends to take a market share of 4 to 5%.

Daimler Buses sold about 5,000 units in the first quarter, lower than the prior-year number. According to preliminary figures, Daimler Financial Services smoothly continued its business development of 2011 and increased its new business to €8.2 billion in the first quarter of this year. The division’s contract volume remained at a record level.

Based on the divisions’ development, Zetsche affirmed the forecasts for 2012: The Group expects its total unit sales to increase again significantly along with further revenue growth. The target for EBIT from the ongoing business is the high level of the prior year (2011: €9.0 billion).

Achieving sustained growth through innovation

The motto of this year’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, “Growth and Innovation,” brings together two topics of fundamental importance for the future of the Daimler Group. By 2020, the annual global vehicle market should have growth by approximately 40 million to about 120 million units. “The question is not whether this growth will take place, but how it can be made sustainable,” said Zetsche. He believes that innovation has the potential to convert growth into prosperity. “Where that occurs, growth will be ecologically compatible and productive for both society and the economy,” explained Zetsche.

The Daimler Group is at the forefront with both of these topics, and has a first-class starting point for sustained innovation and profitable growth. With the Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy, the Mercedes-Benz brand aims to reclaim its position as the leading manufacturer of premium automobiles also in terms of unit sales. Daimler Trucks intends to defend its first place with its Global Excellence strategy. And the other divisions have similar plans to defend or take over the top position.

In 2012 and 2013 alone, the Group will invest €10.9 billion in research and development and €10.6 billion in property, plant and equipment. Daimler will extend its leading role with green technologies. Some examples are the further development of the automobile into a zero-emission vehicle and the digital networking of automobiles to control traffic and reduce congestion.

With internal-combustion engines, the CO2 emissions of Mercedes-Benz Cars’ fleet has been reduced within two vehicle generations by 35% to an average of 150 grams per kilometer. A fleet average of 125 g/km is to be achieved by 2016.

Mercedes-Benz already sells the world’s most economical full-size sedan: the E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid with consumption of 4.2 liters of diesel fuel per 100 kilometers. Starting this summer, the Daimler Group will be the first premium manufacturer to supply an electric car for all: the e-smart.

Affirmation of medium-term goals

At the event in Berlin, Zetsche affirmed Daimler’s medium-term targets for unit sales and earnings: In the year 2015, more than 1.6 million Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, over half a million trucks, more than 400,000 vans and approximately 42,000 buses are to be sold.

As of the year 2013, Daimler aims to achieve an average return on sales in its automotive business of 9%. The targets for the divisions are a return on sales of 10% for Mercedes-Benz Cars, 8% for Daimler Trucks, 9% for Mercedes-Benz Vans and 6% for Daimler Buses, and a return on equity of 17% for Daimler Financial Services. Mercedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Financial Services already achieved or surpassed their targets in 2011.

Record year 2011 and a high dividend

Daimler had presented its figures for the year 2011 in February. In its jubilee year, the Group set records for unit sales, revenue, EBIT and net profit. Worldwide, 2.1 million vehicles were sold and total revenue increased by 9% to €106.5 billion (2010: €97.8 billion). Group EBIT amounted to €8.8 billion (2010: €7.3 billion) and the Group’s EBIT from the ongoing business was €9.0 billion (2010: €7.2 billion). Net profit increased to €6.0 billion (2010: €4.7 billion).

In view of the very positive business development, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board proposed the distribution of a dividend of €2.20 per share at today’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. This constitutes a total payout of almost €2.3 billion and a dividend ratio of about 40% in relation to the Group’s net profit. The dividend for the year 2011 is one of the highest in Daimler’s history.


















Credits: Daimler AG

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