Dieter Zetsche at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting: “At Daimler, we take advantage of the opportunities that arise from change. That’s why we occupy the top spot today.”

“Daimler AG mastered many challenges extremely well in financial year 2017 and achieved outstanding results. New records were set for unit sales, revenue, earnings and profitability,” stated Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG, when welcoming the expected approximately 6,000 shareholders at the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting held at CityCube in Berlin today. “Daimler is now more successful than ever before. In the mobility sector, which is currently being reinvented, further fundamental changes will be necessary also for Daimler in order to stay successful,” said Bischoff. He believes this includes not only technical and social developments that will significantly change the industry, but also the planning required for the Group’s organizational realignment.

“The goal is to reshape individual mobility with sustainable products and innovative services. And to get there, the key to success will be intermeshing mobility concepts with drive technologies,” continued Bischoff. “The planned organizational realignment through Project Future will make Daimler faster, more flexible and more digital, and will thus secure its future strength.”

“At Daimler, we take advantage of the opportunities that arise from change. That’s why we occupy the top spot today,” said Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. “In recent years, we have demonstrated more than once that Daimler can do more.”

Daimler AG systematically continued along its profitable growth path in 2017, and once again set records for unit sales, revenue, Group EBIT and net profit. With a workforce of over 289,300 employees, the Group sold approximately 3.3 million vehicles. Revenue amounted to €164.3 billion and EBIT amounted to €14.7 billion, which is significantly higher than in the previous year. Net profit increased to the new high of €10.9 billion (2016: €8.8 billion). Earnings per share therefore increased to €9.84 (2016: €7.97).

The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting that the dividend be increased to €3.65 per share (previous year: €3.25), representing the highest dividend ever paid out in the company’s history. The total dividend distribution thus also increases to the record amount of €3.9 billion (previous year: €3.5 billion).