“2015 was a good year for Daimler,” stated Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, upon opening the 2016 Annual Press Conference. “We know from experience: Getting to the top is hard, but staying at the top is even harder. That’s our ambition: Daimler belongs at the top on a sustained basis.” In financial year 2015, the Group achieved its best ever EBIT of €13.5 billion (2014: €10.8 billion) and its best EBIT from the ongoing business of €13.8 billion (2014: €10.1 billion). Net profit of €8.9 billion was significantly higher than in the previous year (2014: €7.3 billion). Earnings per share increased to €8.08 (2014: €6.51). As previously announced, Daimler significantly increased its total unit sales in 2015. The number of around 2.9 million vehicles sold was 12% higher than in 2014. This growth was primarily driven by the Mercedes-Benz Cars division (+16%) and to a lesser extent by Mercedes-Benz Vans (+9%). At Daimler Trucks, the growth in unit sales of 1% was lower than originally expected, mainly due to weak markets in Latin America and Indonesia. At Daimler Buses, for which slight growth had been expected at the beginning of the year, unit sales were significantly below the prior-year level. This was primarily due to the pronounced weakness of the markets for bus chassis in Latin America. Driven by the growth in unit sales, Daimler increased its total revenue by 15% to €149.5 billion in 2015; adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue grew by 9%. “The development of earnings at the Daimler Group over recent years clearly shows that our strategy is working and that we are growing profitably,” stated Bodo Uebber, Board of Management Member at Daimler AG responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services. “We increased our EBIT from the ongoing business by over a third compared with 2014; compared with 2010, our earnings have actually almost doubled. And revenue has increased by more than 50% in the past five years.” At the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on April 6, 2016, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose the distribution of a dividend of €3.25 per share (2014: €2.45). “With the dividend again increased and thus the highest ever profit distribution by Daimler AG, we will as usual let the shareholders participate in the company’s success, while expressing our confidence about the ongoing course of business,” stated Bodo Uebber. The dividend payout will amount to €3,477 million (2014: €2,621 million) and the distribution ratio will be 40.2% (2014: 37.6%) of the net profit attributable to the Daimler shareholders. The net liquidity of the industrial business increased to €18.6 billion at the end of 2015 (2014: €17.0 billion), although there was an extraordinary contribution to the pension plan assets in Germany and the United States of €1.2 billion, and €0.7 billion was applied for the acquisition of the digital mapping business, HERE. At €5.9 billion, the free cash flow of the industrial business adjusted for special items was also once again higher than in the previous year (2014: €5.2 billion) and significantly higher than the dividend distribution proposed for the year 2015. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/OldBenzClub?sub_confirmation=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Qz4kGyMjE