It's a really complicated period for Daimler. On Friday morning, the German automotive group – owner, among others, of the Mercedes-Benz brand – communicated the second profit warning within twenty days, as well the fourth of the last 12 months (before that there were those of October and July 2018).
After registering a operating loss of $1,6 billion in the second quarter for the year (against the profit of 2,6 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year), Daimler now expects to close 2019 with a “significantly lower” operating profit than last year.
According to the group, the reasons behind this negative result are several: the consequences of Dieselgate (expenditure related to the ongoing diesel case increased by around 1,6 billion euros), the massive recall of vehicles due to problems with Takata airbags, the growth of automotive markets lower than forecasts and the slowdown in the launch of new models.
The operating loss in the second quarter was mainly attributable to the divisions Mercedes-Benz Cars e Mercedes-benz vans: the first saw the result go from a profit of 1,9 billion to a loss of 700 million and the second from 200 million to -2 billion.
For the new CEO, Wave Källenius, therefore a difficult period opens.
Meanwhile, the title of Daimler travels down by about one percentage point on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, at 46.38 euros. Previously, however, the shares had even lost 4,4%.
