The commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck had to take a hit due to industry weakness in its important North American market in the third quarter. Revenue in the industrial business — i.e., excluding financial services — fell by 14 percent due to a drop in sales to around 10.6 billion
euros, as the DAX-listed company announced on Friday in Leinfelden-Echterdingen.
The adjusted group EBIT before interest and taxes, excluding one-off effects, fell by 40 percent to 716 million euros. In the industrial business, the operating margin slid by three percentage points to 6.3 percent, and was thus slightly weaker than
analysts had expected.
Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer spoke, according to the announcement, of difficult market conditions in North America.
Order intake, supported by an upturn in Europe, was roughly at the level of the previous year's period, with a 0.8 percent decrease to 93,923 vehicles. In North America, there
was in the quarter a recovery from the very low level in the second quarter, it was said. Net earnings per share for the Swabians fell by a little more than a quarter to 57 cents. The group's CEO Karin Radström confirmed the outlook that had been cut several times
