(RTTNews) - Shares of Daimler AG (DDAIF.PK) were gaining around 6 percent in the morning trading after the German automaker reported Thursday higher profit in its third quarter with strong unit sales.
Looking ahead for fiscal 2019, the company continues to project Group EBIT significantly below the previous year's level, while revenues will be slightly higher. Daimler continues to expect unit sales in 2019 at the previous year's level.
For the year, Mercedes-Benz Cars and Daimler Trucks divisions expect revenue at the prior year's level, while Mercedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Mobility divisions anticipate slight revenue growth. Daimler Buses expects a significant increase in revenue.
Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said, "Strong sales at Cars and Vans supported our Q3 financial performance. However, in order to master the transformation in the next few years, we need to increase our efforts considerably: We have to significantly reduce our costs and consistently strengthen our cash flow."
For the third quarter, net profit attributable to the shareholders grew to 1.72 billion euros from last year's 1.69 billion euros. Earnings per share increased 2 percent to 1.61 euros from 1.58 euros a year earlier.
Third-quarter EBIT was 2.7 billion euros, up 8 percent from last year's 2.5 billion euros.
Revenue climbed 8 percent to 43.3 billion euros from 40.2 billion euros a year ago. Adjusted for positive exchange-rate changes, revenue was slightly higher than the prior-year level.
Mercedes-Benz Cars' revenue increased 9 percent to 23.5 billion euros and Daimler Trucks revenue grew 3 percent. Mercedes-Benz Vans' revenue was 15 percent higher
The total unit sales rose 6 percent to 839,300 passenger cars and commercial vehicles from 794,700 units in the previous year.
The company reported 8 percent rise in sales for Mercedes-Benz Cars to 604,700 vehicles and 10 percent growth for Vans to 100,300 vehicles. Daimler Trucks showed an 8 percent decrease in unit sales to 125,400 vehicles, while Daimler Buses' sales grew 16 percent to 9,000 units.
In Germany, Daimler shares were trading at 53.42 euros, up 5.95 percent.
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