Oh, almost forgot not everyone is into economics. EBIT stands for earnings before interest and taxes and is obtained by subtracting the operating revenue and operating expenses and by adding the non-operating income.
As expected, this was the result of sharp drops recorded by all divisions, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks and Mercedes-Benz Vans, in the first quarter of 2009. The car division sold 231,200 vehicles compared to 318,300 in 2008, the truck division went from 107,700 in 2008 to an appalling 65,400, while the vans collapsed from 68,600 to 28,800.
In terms of sales, the company recorded a 34% drop compared to the first quarter of 2008. More precisely, Daimler sold 332,300 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide. In other financial figure, “the Daimler Group’s first-quarter revenue decreased significantly from €24.0 billion to €18.7 billion in 2009. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue fell by 25%.”
Daimler's workforce also felt the shock wave as the Daimler now employs 263,819 people as opposed to 273,902 in 2008. That's about 10,000 people or 10,000 pink slips.
If there was any room for worse, Daimler doesn't see any improvement for 2009 and expects things to go down even more. Here are some excerpts from the press release.
"Based on the divisions’ planning, Daimler expects its total unit sales to decrease significantly in the year 2009 (2008: 2.1 million vehicles)."
"The Daimler Group’s total revenue is likely to decrease significantly in full-year 2009 (2008: €95.9 billion)."
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