The bottlenecks in the supply chains for chips have been burdening car production since December, but the German manufacturers are apparently still coping relatively well with them.

After Volkswagen pushed ahead with surprisingly good numbers, Daimler also reported significantly better results on Thursday night than the analysts expected.

Accordingly, the Stuttgart-based group generated EUR 5.4 billion EBIT in the second quarter (earnings before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects), while the analysts had expected an average of almost EUR 4.3 billion.

A year ago the situation was completely different.

Because of the corona pandemic, car factories and dealerships were closed in the spring, and Daimler reported an adjusted loss of a good 700 million euros for the second quarter.

Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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On the stock exchange, the Daimler price initially rose at the start of trading, but then leveled off in an overall negative environment with a slight decline at prices just over 73 euros.

At VW, the positive surprise was even bigger, it was noted on the stock exchange.

At the same time, Daimler failed to increase its forecasts, while VW had raised its medium-term return target.

The chip crisis is likely to be an important reason for staying cautious in Stuttgart.

Mercedes could have produced and sold even more in the second quarter if there had been enough semiconductors.

It is true that Mercedes has so far managed to distribute the chips in such a way that, above all, the particularly profitable car models such as the S-Class and the electric flagship EQS as well as the SUV models could be produced, while short-time work was arranged for the smaller model series .

But that's over now.

Production of the S-Class in Sindelfingen has even been idle for a few days since last Friday.

From this it can be deduced that Daimler could have difficulties maintaining the return level it has now achieved in the next few quarters.

"Strong financial performance"

"We are achieving a strong financial performance in all divisions," says CEO Ola Källenius with a view to the second quarter. The passenger car business alone contributes 3.6 billion euros to earnings, and the division's return on sales is reportedly 12.8 percent. The analysts had not assessed the Mercedes business as profitable, but the consensus estimate was at least 11.5 percent return. Just recently, Mercedes announced that sales in the second quarter had increased by 27 percent to 581,000 cars.

The truck division reported 831 million euros in EBIT in the second quarter. The return on sales is given by Daimler at 8.3 percent, while the analysts expected an average of 6.9 percent. Daimler Mobility comes to 930 million euros Ebit, which corresponds to a return on equity of 24 percent. The corrective effects that are included in these earnings figures amount to a total of 184 million for the group. Of this, 107 million euros relate to legal proceedings and 76 million euros to restructuring costs. Daimler had already initiated a restructuring course before the corona pandemic. This goes hand in hand with the shedding of thousands of jobs, which in Germany is based on termination agreements that require double voluntariness and are sometimes associated with high severance payments.

The "strict cost control" is tirelessly in focus, Daimler boss Källenius is quoted in the communication for the second quarter. Not least because of this, most analysts remain optimistic about the vehicle group. The investment bank Goldman Sachs sees the price target for the Daimler share at 107 euros, the analysis company Bernstein Research at 111 euros. The Stifel analyst Daniel Schwarz remains with a price target of 98 euros, pointing out that the profit achieved in the first half of the year has already brought in 70 percent of the consensus estimate for the full year.

Frank Schwope from NordLB does not believe that the profits in the second half of the year "can simply be carried forward" and therefore lowered his target price from 78 to 75 euros. It is astonishing, writes Schwope, "that after years of complaining about high transformation costs suddenly almost dream returns are being achieved". Daimler will provide detailed information on the second quarter on July 21, and the day after that, CEO Ola Källenius will provide a strategy update.