The company
The name “Daimler” has been inseparable from the history of the automobile for more than 120 years. With the sale of the majority of shares in the Chrysler Group, Daimler, whose headquarters are in Stuttgart, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of premium passenger vehicles and the world’s largest producer of commercial vehicles. Customized services for these products complement its product range.
Today the annual revenues of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Daimler Trucks are twice as high as they were ten years ago. Mercedes-Benz Cars now produces seven additional model series and three new brands: Maybach, smart, and AMG. Daimler Trucks has incorporated the brands Mitsubishi Fuso, Detroit Diesel, Sterling, and Western Star. The portfolio of Daimler Financial Services has more than doubled over the past decade. In recent years, Daimler has broadened its international base and now operates in almost every country of the world. We have production plants in 19 countries and a worldwide network of approximately 7,300 sales locations. The worldwide networking of our research and development activities and of our production and sales locations gives us considerable potential to enhance efficiency and gain advantages in a competitive global environment. Approximately 272,000 men and women work at Daimler today.
In 2007, Daimler posted annual revenues of € 99.4 billion. Of this total, 52 percent was contributed by Mercedes-Benz Cars, 26 percent by Daimler Trucks, 8 percent by Daimler Financial Services, and 14 percent by the Vans, Buses, Other segment.
After selling the majority of its shares in the U.S. automaker Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in August 2007, Daimler still holds 19.9 percent of the shares in Chrysler Holding LCC. At the end of 2007, Daimler also held a 24.9 percent interest in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), one of the world’s leading companies in the field of aerospace and defense technology.
The Daimler Group
Brands: Mercedes-Benz, smart, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Benz McLaren, Maybach, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, Mitsubishi Fuso, Thomas Built Buses, Orion, Setra, Detroit Diesel, Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial, Daimler Trucks Financial
Legal form: Stock company (AG) incorporated under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany
Board of Management: Dieter Zetsche (Chairman of the Board of Management and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars), Günther Fleig (Human Resources and Labor Relations Director), Rüdiger Grube (Corporate Development), Andreas Renschler (Daimler Trucks), Bodo Uebber (Finance & Controlling/Daimler Financial Services), Thomas Weber (Group Research and Development Mercedes-Benz Cars)
Supervisory Board: Comprising of ten shareholders’ representatives and ten employees’ representatives. The Supervisory Board appoints the members of the Board of Management and approves important corporate decisions.
Headquarters: Stuttgart, Germany
Employees: 272,382 at the end of 2007
Trainees: 9,300 at the end of 2007
Market capitalization: About € 67.4 billion (as of December 31, 2007)
Total assets: €135.1 billion
Global stock: The Daimler share is listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt, New York, and Stuttgart.
Shareholders: Daimler has a broad shareholder base of approximately 1.2 million shareholders. At the end of 2007, the largest shareholder was the Kuwait Investment Authority with a 7.2 percent shareholding. In total, institutional investors held 75.9 percent of the Group’s equity and private investors held 16.9 percent. Around 71 percent of the capital stock was in the hands of European investors and around 21 percent was held by U.S. investors.
Automotive sales: Daimler sold 2.1 million vehicles in business year 2007 (2006: 2.1 million).
Mercedes-Benz Cars: 1,293,184 (+ 3 percent)
Daimler Trucks: 467,667 (- 9 percent)
Mercedes-Benz Vans: 289,600 (+15 percent)
Mercedes-Benz Buses: 38,200 (+ 3 percent)
Daimler Financial Services: Management of a leasing and sales financing portfolio of € 59.1 billion (+ 4 percent)
Daimler Group – key figures
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2007/2006 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amounts in € millions | Change in % | |||
| Revenue | 95,209 | 99,222 | 99,399 | 01 |
| Western Europe | 44,620 | 46,999 | 49,289 | + 5 |
| thereof Germany | 20,726 | 21,652 | 22,582 | + 4 |
| NAFTA | 26,756 | 27,857 | 23,499 | - 16 |
| thereof United States | 23,930 | 24,943 | 20,270 | - 19 |
| Other markets | 23,833 | 24,366 | 26,611 | + 9 |
| Employees (Dec. 31) | 293,839 | 274,024 | 272,382 | - 1 |
| Investment in property, plant, and equipment | 3,445 | 3,005 | 2,927 | - 3 |
| Research and development expenditure | 3,928 | 3,733 | 4,148 | +11 |
| thereof capitalized | 591 | 715 | 990 | + 38 |
| Cash provided by operating activities (including discounted operations) |
11,032 | 14,337 | 13,088 | - 9 |
| EBIT | 2,873 | 4,992 | 8,710 | + 74 |
| Value added (including discounted operations) |
1,452 | 631 | 1,380 | + 119 |
| Net profit | 4,215 | 3,783 | 3,985 | + 5 |
| Net profit from continuing operations | 2,253 | 3,166 | 4,855 | + 53 |
| Earnings per share (in €) | 4.09 | 3.66 | 3.83 | + 5 |
| Earnings per share, continuing operations (in €) | 2.16 | 3.06 | 4.67 | + 53 |
| Total dividend | 1,527 | 1,542 | 2,028 | + 32 |
| Dividend per share (in €) | 1.50 | 1.50 | 2.00 | + 33 |
| 1 Adjusted for the effects of currency translation, increase in revenue of 3 %. | ||||
