LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck raked in a surprising amount of operating profit in the past quarter thanks to good business. The group attributed this to strong sales, robust price enforcement and a positive development of the service business. The good figures were not entirely unexpected, however, as management only recently raised its targets for sales, revenue and margin and announced a major share buyback. On the stock exchange, the reaction on Thursday morning remained manageable.

The share price fell moderately in the morning, following on from heavy losses the previous day. Although the share has been going up and down since mid-May, the trend has recently been upwards. Since the beginning of the year, the share has gained a good 13 percent in value, which means that the price has now returned to the level at the time of the stock market flotation at the end of 2021. The previous high from January 2022 at a good 35 euros is also coming closer.

Industry experts were impressed by the quarterly figures. The Group is now convincing with a strong operating result just over a week after the improved forecast, wrote analyst Nick Housden from Canadian bank RBC in an initial reaction. According to him, Daimler Truck is a "much better company than its current valuation would suggest". Jefferies expert Himanshu Agarwal also spoke of "strong key data".

According to preliminary calculations, earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) reached just under 1.4 billion euros in the second quarter, as the DAX-listed group announced in Leinfelden-Echterdingen on Wednesday evening. A year earlier, an operating profit of almost 1.1 billion euros had stood here. Analysts surveyed by Daimler Truck had expected an average of 1.3 billion this time. Before special effects, operating profit rose from just over one billion euros previously to 1.4 billion euros; this was also more than the market had expected.

Group CEO Martin Daum had been extremely confident about the forecast increase in the middle of the month, pointing among other things to the more stable supply chains and stronger core markets. Daimler Truck's lucrative service business is also developing well. In addition, the Swabians had raised prices last year more than ever before - this is still having an effect to some extent.

According to the company's own statements, Daimler Truck also performed better than expected across all divisions in the past quarter. In the industrial business, which includes the vehicle segments Trucks North America, Mercedes-Benz, Trucks Asia, Daimler Buses and the transition, the adjusted return on sales was 10.3 percent, according to the preliminary figures, while analysts had expected an average of only 9.2 percent. A year earlier, it had been 8 percent.

The company plans to release full quarterly figures on Aug. 1./stw/tav/ngu/jha/