German luxury carmaker Daimler said its first-quarter net profit nearly doubled, and maintained a rosy outlook for the year amid strong demand for its Mercedes-Benz cars and also heavy trucks.
Daimler said net profit jumped to €1.18 billion in the three months from January to the end of March, from €612 million in the same period of 2010.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a slightly higher profit of €1.26 billion however, and Daimler shares slumped in midday trades on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Sales by the group gained 16.5 per cent to €24.7 billion, a statement said, in line with market expectations.
Echoing comments from other German makers of upscale automobiles, Daimler reiterated upbeat guidance for the rest of the year, forecasting core earnings before interest and taxes “to be significantly higher than in 2010.”
The company posted Ebit last year of €7.27 billion.
First quarter Ebit soared by 71 per cent on the year meanwhile, to €2 billion, Daimler said.
“This puts us well ahead of our planning and confirms our positive outlook for the year 2011,” chairman Dieter Zetsche added.
Sales were forecast to exceed the 2010 level of €97.8 billion, when Daimler sold nearly 1.9 million vehicles
Passenger car sales should gain more than seven percent this year, finance director Bodo Uebber told a telephone press conference.
Mercedes posted a 12 per cent gain in the first quarter to 310,000 units, and all regions and all divisions contributed to Daimler’s results.
Mercedes accounted for €1.29 billion of the first-quarter Ebit, a gain of 60 per cent, and Daimler Trucks added €415 million, up from €130 million in the first quarter of 2010.
The group reported €49 million in costs at Daimler Trucks however, the world’s leading heavy truck maker, along with €29 million at Daimler Financial Services in connection with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Mitsubishi Fuso, a key Daimler Truck brand, is based in Japan, where output was cut after the March 11 quake until April 20.
Mr Uebber said the group expected further costs of between €50 million and €100 million stemming from the disaster.
But quarterly global truck sales nonetheless gained 27 per cent on the year to 89,300 vehicles.
Meanwhile, tornadoes that slammed the southern United States this week, killing more than 300 people, did not do serious damage to a Daimler plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the finance director added.
He said demand for passenger cars in China, now a crucial market for luxury auto makers, would increase by 10 to 15 per cent this year, and forecast sustained growth in the future.
Shares in the group fell however by 1.70 per cent to €52.19 in midday trades on the Frankfurt stock exchange, while the DAX index of German blue-chips was 0.22 per cent higher overall.