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EARNINGS

Daimler books record €6-billion profit

German auto and truck giant Daimler, who own Mercedes-Benz, said on Thursday they achieved record sales and profits in 2011, but warned that earnings may be flat this year.

Published: 9 February 2012 11:22 CET
Daimler books record €6-billion profit
Photo: DPA

Daimler said in a statement it booked bottom-line net profit of over €6 billion ($8 billion) in 2011, a leap of 29 percent from the previous year.

That would allow the carmaker to increase the dividend payout to shareholders to €2.2 per share compared with €1.85 in 2010.

Employees would also receive a bonus of €4,100 each. Daimler said its underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), jumped 20 percent to €8.76 billion.

Unit sales were up 11 percent at 2.111 million cars and revenues grew by 9.0 percent to €106.5 billion, the group said.

“We achieved our best-ever results in 2011 for unit sales, revenue, EBIT and net profit. All of our divisions contributed to this success,” said Daimler head Dieter Zetsche.

The Mercedes-Benz Cars division has “never performed better than in 2011,” and set new records for sales, revenue and underlying profit, he said.

Unit sales of the division’s Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart cars rose by 8.2 percent to 1,381,400 vehicles and revenues were up 7.0 percent at €57.4 billion.

The success was primarily due to higher sales, particularly in the mid-sized and SUV (sports utility vehicle) segments, it said. In terms of region, the car division’s growth was driven mainly by higher sales in China and the United States.

In the trucks division, unit sales were up 20 percent at 425,800 vehicles and revenues up 20 percent at €28.8 billion, with growth seen in all main regions.

In the fourth quarter alone, group net profit soared 57 percent to €1.79 billion and revenues climbed 10 percent to €29 billion.

Looking ahead to the current year, Daimler said that — assuming global industry-wide growth of 4.0 percent, driven primarily by emerging markets in Asia — it expected unit sales to “increase again significantly this year and that revenue will also continue to grow.”

In terms of profits, however, underlying earnings were only expected to match last year’s level, Daimler said.

Investors appeared satisfied with the record earnings and the prospect of an increased dividend and Daimler shares were the strongest gainer on the Frankfurt stock exchange, climbing 4.84 percent to €46.80.

AFP/jcw

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FARMING

WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules

A US decision to slap steep import duties on Spanish olives over claims they benefited from subsidies constituted a violation of international trade rules, the World Trade Organisation ruled Friday.

Published: 22 November 2021 11:34 CET
WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules
Farmers had just begun harvesting olives in southern Spain when former US President Donald Trump soured the mood with the tariffs' announcement. Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Former US president Donald Trump’s administration slapped extra tariffs on Spain’s iconic agricultural export in 2018, considering their olives were subsidised and being dumped on the US market at prices below their real value.

The combined rates of the anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties go as high as 44 percent.

The European Commission, which handles trade policy for the 27 EU states, said the move was unacceptable and turned to the WTO, where a panel of experts was appointed to examine the case.

In Friday’s ruling, the WTO panel agreed with the EU’s argument that the anti-subsidy duties were illegal.

But it did not support its stance that the US anti-dumping duties violated international trade rules.

The panel said it “recommended that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations”.

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis hailed the ruling, pointing out that the US duties “severely hit Spanish olive producers.”

Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid, called by the olive sector
Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid called by the olive sector to denounce low prices of olive oil and the 25 percent tariff that Spanish olives and olive oil faced in the United States. (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
 

“We now expect the US to take the appropriate steps to implement the WTO ruling, so that exports of ripe olives from Spain to the US can resume under normal conditions,” he said.

The European Commission charges that Spain’s exports of ripe olives to the United States, which previously raked in €67 million ($75.6 million) annually, have shrunk by nearly 60 percent since the duties were imposed.

The office of the US Trade Representative in Washington did not immediately comment on the ruling.

According to WTO rules, the parties have 60 days to file for an appeal.

If the United States does file an appeal though, it would basically amount to a veto of the ruling.

That is because the WTO Appellate Body — also known as the supreme court of world trade — stopped functioning in late 2019 after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges.

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