Daimler Truck Holding AG (“Daimler Truck”) has made a positive start to the new year with growth in unit sales, revenue and EBIT (adjusted). The company was able to increase its Group unit sales significantly year-on-year to 109,000 units in Q1 2022 (+ 8%, Q1 2021: 101,000 units). Despite ongoing supply bottlenecks, Daimler Truck was able to benefit from the strong demand situation in the first quarter. Supported by strong unit sales in the segments Trucks North America and Mercedes-Benz, improved net pricing and positive contributions from aftersales and used vehicle business, Group revenue rose by 17% to €10.6 billion (Q1 2021: €9.0 billion). Daimler Truck sees a continued strong demand environment. Around 139,000 units mark a high level of order intake in the opening quarter of the reporting year. The order backlog continues to rise to a new record level.
Adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) increased by 11% to €651 million in the reporting period (Q1 2021: €588 million). In the industrial business, adjusted EBIT of €604 million was around 9% higher than in the same period of the previous year (€552 million). The adjusted Return on Sales (ROS adjusted) aggregates to 5.9% (Q1 2021: 6.3%).
Following the outbreak of the Russia’s war against the Ukraine, Daimler Truck decided on February 27th 2022 to suspend all business activities in Russia until further notice. For Q1 the resulting impairment had a negative one-time effect of € 170 million. The remainder to the anticipated total effect of roughly € 200 million will be written off at a later point of time. Given the strong demand in other regions, the volume lost in the affected markets was reallocated and absorbed immediately by other markets.
Jochen Goetz, CFO of Daimler Truck: “Our positive Q1 results prove that we are fit to stay on course also in a more uncertain environment. We remain fully committed to the ambitions we have set for 2025 and we feel confident to achieve our targets for 2022. Optimized semiconductor allocation and adjusted net pricing proved to be efficient actions to countermeasure chip shortages and headwinds from raw material prices. Given the ongoing challenges on the supply chain and the potential impact of the Ukraine war to the overall economy, our practice of strict fixed cost management and cash preservation is more important than ever to ensure sustainable profitability. We do not waver here, not a bit.”
Market Assumptions 2022 & Outlook
Daimler Truck’s outlook assumption considers that the overall macroeconomic conditions will continue to be comparatively favorable for the global demand in commercial vehicles in 2022. For its industrial business, Daimler Truck continues to anticipate an increase in unit sales to a range between 500,000 and 520,000 in 2022. The company also continues to expect a significant increase in its revenue on group level in 2022. Especially due to improved pricing and exchange rate reasons Daimler Truck updates the revenue forecast in terms of the range to between € 48.0 to 50.0 billion (previous forecast: € 45.5 and 47.5 billion). Respectively, the EBIT guidance for the Group is also changed from “slight decrease” to “on prior year level”. Regarding the ROS adjusted for the Industrial Business Daimler Truck will stay unchanged between 7 and 9%.
Daimler Truck’s outlook covers all currently known impacts of the Russian/Ukraine war and semiconductor shortages. However, this outlook is subject to further developments in the war and its impact on the global economy. Additional uncertainties remain possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic effects and therefore resulting lock downs.
