Daimler: pandemic had 'substantial effects' on first quarter

(CercleFinance.com) - Daimler on Wednesday posted lower first-quarter sales and profit, saying that the Covid-19 pandemic has had "substantial effects" on the company.


In the first three months of 2020, net profit reached 168 million euros, far from the 2.1 billion euros in the first quarter of 2019, the German auto giant said.

The group's total unit sales fell by 17% to 644,300 passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the quarter, from 773,800 units a year ago, due to the spread of the corona virus.

Revenue slipped by 6% to 37.2 billion euros, it added.

Daimler - which has begun to gradually ramp-up production - confirmed that it expects FY 2020 revenue and EBIT to be "below the prior year."

Even so, its shares were up 2.2% in Frankfurt after these results.

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