Mercedes-Benz Q4 Profit Declines, Cuts Dividend; Plans Up To EUR 5 Bln Share Buyback

(RTTNews) - Mercedes-Benz Group AG (MBGAF), a German luxury vehicle major, reported Thursday weak profit and revenues in its fourth quarter.

Further, at the Annual General Meeting on May 7, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of 4.30 euros per share, lower than prior year's 5.30 euros.

Mercedes-Benz has also decided to buy back own shares worth up to a maximum 5 billion euros over a period of up to 24 months. The program is subject to the renewal of the authorization by the Annual General Meeting in May 2025 to buy back own shares up to a maximum of 10 percent of the share capital.

Looking ahead, Mercedes-Benz said its sales are expected to gain traction after dozens of new or refreshed models reach the markets until 2027.

Further, the company plans to cut production costs by 10 percent until 2027. Material costs will be tackled in close collaboration with suppliers and fixed-cost reductions will continue through to 2027, building on significant progress achieved over the past four years.

For the fourth quarter, profit attributable to shareholders fell 20.3 percent to 2.48 billion euros from last year's 3.12 billion euros. Earnings per share were 2.57 euros, down 14.1 percent from last year's 2.99 euros.

Group earnings before interest and taxes or EBIT reached 3.18 billion euros, down 26.4 percent from last year's 4.33 billion euros.

Group revenues came in at 38.45 billion euros, down 3.8 percent from last year's 39.98 billion euros.

Car sales grew 1.1 percent from last year to 520,140 units. Sales of vans fell 15 percent to 105,687 units.

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