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The carmaker, one of the few German companies to stick to its 2022 targets and even raise its profit forecast last October despite the unstable environment, hit its forecast of a 13%-15% adjusted return on sales in the cars division, reporting a 14.6% margin.
Still, the company forecast a lower adjusted return of 12%-14% on sales for the cars division in 2023 and group earnings slightly below 2022, even with Mercedes-Benz Cars unit sales expected at the same level.
Mercedes-Benz said it will also propose a dividend of 5.20 euros per share, up from 5 euros last year, amounting to a total payout of 5.6 billion euros.
Incoming orders were sluggish in Europe, and sales in the Chinese market were tepid due to the COVID-19 restrictions in the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement, adding that demand in the United States was still strong.
Still, top-end vehicle sales, which saw particularly strong growth in 2022 and helped the carmaker overcome rising costs, are expected to rise slightly this year.
The company’s fourth-quarter earnings came in at 5.4 billion euros, above estimates of analysts polled by Refinitiv of 5 billion euros.
The company, which committed on Thursday to buy back up to 4 billion euros in shares by 2025, reported an adjusted free-cash flow in its industrial business of 9.29 billion euros, down 8% from last year.
($1 = 0.9402 euros)
