German carmaker Daimler (DAI.XE) has reported a 20% rise in net profit in first quarter of this year to EUR1.42bn, with revenues in the period increasing by 9% to EUR27bn.
The company said that car sales at its Mercedes-Benz unit contributed sharply to the rise and that sales of Mercedes hit a record of 338,300 units. Performance in Daimler’s core European and US markets was particularly strong, the company said.
“The development of earnings is primarily a reflection of the ongoing growth of unit sales at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Daimler Trucks. There were opposing, negative effects on earnings mainly in connection with the expansion of the product portfolio, including the current product offensive at Daimler Trucks. Exchange-rate movements had a positive effect on earnings,” the company said in a statement.
Chairman Dieter Zetsche said that Daimler has started the year with a strong quarter and the company expects to sell more vehicles overall this year, compared to last year.
“Despite higher investment in future growth and a challenging market environment, we succeeded in surpassing the very good prior-year results in terms of unit sales, revenue and net profit,” Zetsche said in a statement.
“We are on schedule to meet our targets for this year as well as our medium-term targets,” he added.
