Daimler Financial Marching to Profit

The year is almost over and just about everyone in the automotive industry is adding the numbers and drawing the lines on what certainly was a better year than 2009. Aside from the main auto businesses of the manufacturers, their financial arms are also posting their results for the year.

Daimler Financial, hit pretty seriously by the 2009 crisis, is slowly coming back to life. According to the company, the EUR607 million profit posted for the first three quarters of the year are creating the perfect environment for an EBIT figure of more than EUR900 million, one of the best figures ever recorded by Daimler Financial.

"We've emerged from the financial and economic crisis stronger than before, and we are benefiting from the decrease in risk-related costs and favorable interest margins. We are also on a growth path with our new business and contract volume," said Klaus Entenmann, Daimler Financial Services chairman of the board.

Just as its car business, the financial arm of the carmaker is posting record numbers coming from markets like China and India. In China alone, the contract volume of business conducted by Daimler financial grew by no less than 93 percent in the first nine months of the year, to EUR916 million. The financial institution expects the first billion euros mark will be achieved by the end of the year.

"We expect to see continued rapid growth in China, and we also appreciate the fact that Chinese customers are very reliable when it comes to making payments," added Entenmann.