Carmaker
Mercedes-Benz again with a drop in profits at the beginning of the year
In China, things didn’t go smoothly in the first quarter. And what do the US tariffs mean for the Stuttgart?
At the beginning of the year, the carmaker Mercedes-Benz has had the weak business in the important market of China. In the first quarter, the DAX group’s profit dropped by almost 43 percent to 1.73 billion euros, as the Stuttgarters announced on Wednesday.
Sales gave up a good 7 percent to 33.2 billion euros because sales had shrunk worldwide as already known. In day -to -day business, i.e. before interest and taxes, the result slipped by almost 41 percent to 2.29 billion euros due to the difficult situation.
In the important car division, the operational profit margin, which was highly observed by investors, shrank by 1.7 percentage points to 7.3 percent. That was a lower decline than feared by analysts.
What do the US tariffs mean?
Because of the US import duties on cars, the group is based on significant stress for profits this year. At the moment, however, the effects on demand in view of the developments that are prone to fluctuations and possible countermeasures are not reliable, it said
Without taking into account the tariffs that came into force, the previous statements on the view existed, it said from the Stuttgart. If the current trade policy remains, negative effects on the result before interest and taxes, the free fundamentally inflow and the operational margins in the business areas were to be expected, Mercedes admitted.
The group had previously warned that a US import of 10 percent could reduce the operating margin of the car business by one percentage point. At the beginning of April, US President Donald Trump then opened 25 percent of the EU import.
dpa
Source: Stern
