Year 2024
Burglary at Mercedes-Benz due to China weakness
Chinese don’t buy as many expensive cars from Mercedes -Benz – that is reflected in the profit.
The car maker Mercedes-Benz suffered a significant drop in profits last year, especially because of the poorly running business in China. The group result fell by a good 28 percent to 10.4 billion euros in the year, as the DAX company announced on Thursday. The Stuttgarters had to drop their winning expectations drastically in September.
On the most important single market China, wealthy customers buy less expensive cars from Mercedes, which melt the high profitability of the previous years. In 2024, only 8.1 percent of sales were due in the car business before interest, taxes and special items across the group. That was a little less than expected. A year earlier it was 12.6 percent, even more in the two years before. Sales fell by 4.5 percent to 145.6 billion euros in the year. The result from interest and taxes slipped by almost a third to 13.6 billion euros and was a little better than feared by experts.
The dividend is to be shortened by one euro to 4.30 euros per share. In addition, Mercedes wants to start a further share buyback of up to five billion euros if the general meeting approves it.
In the current year, the car manufacturer expects with even stronger headwind and less result. Marge, which was adjusted for special effects, before interest and taxes in the car business should only be six to eight percent of sales in 2025, the group said on Thursday. Mercedes boss Ola Källenius justified this with a further challenging environment. This year, the corporate turnover is likely to remain below the level of the previous year. The Stuttgarters also expect a slight decline in the sales of cars. The group result before interest and taxes is likely to fall significantly.
dpa
Source: Stern
