FRANKFURT – Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler yesterday released preliminary earnings data for 2020 showing higher-than-expected operating profit in a year battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
At €6.6 billion (RM32.36 billion), profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) was up by around half on 2019’s figure and well above the group's previous forecast of €4.3 billion, the partial data showed.
But Daimler’s 2019 earnings had been undermined by billions in costs from the “dieselgate” emissions cheating scandal.
Adjusted for those one-off charges, 2020’s profits were down 16% year-on-year.
Like most of the industry, Stuttgart-based Daimler was especially badly hit in the first half of 2020 by factory and showroom closures imposed by Berlin as part of nationwide lockdowns to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.
Continuing legal woes including dieselgate weighed on earnings to the tune of €164 million, while a far-reaching restructuring slated to bring at least 10,000 job cuts costs €1.9 billion.
Media reports suggest further posts could go in a drive to cut 20% of costs by 2025, announced in October.
Looking ahead to 2021, the carmaker pointed to “successful cost discipline... and expected good underlying demand” as factors supporting “positive business development”.
But Daimler is struggling with an industry-wide shortage of semiconductors and continuing coronavirus disruptions that “will probably impact the first quarter,” it said.
Lack of vital computer chips forced production to slow at several of its sites this month.
The Mercedes-Benz maker added that its optimistic statements “are made under the assumption of no further Covid-19 lockdowns”.
The group plans to publish full 2020 financial data on February 18.– AFP, January 29, 2021
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