(New: Share price updated, management statements, details.)

LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Following last year's recovery, commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck also has ambitious plans for 2023. Chief Executive Officer Martin Daum wants to further increase revenue thanks to expected rising sales in the important North American market and picking up business with financial services. The operating profit is expected to increase significantly and unexpectedly. Last year, the Group was able to make up a lot of ground with high price increases, which should continue to have an effect. However, the high fixed costs are not progressing as quickly as planned - the Board of Management postponed the cost-cutting targets by two years. The share price slipped noticeably.

The stock fluctuated strongly on Friday, but most recently fell sharply. In the morning, the share price was down around four percent at 31.18 euros, making it one of the weakest stocks in the leading Dax index. Analyst Himanshu Agarwal of the U.S. investment bank Jefferies criticized a weaker-than-expected performance in the fourth quarter. However, the outlook could provide for rising market expectations. In the view of JPMorgan analyst Jose Asumendi, the Group's outlook for the commercial vehicle markets is still too cautious in view of full order books.

However, management does not see the situation as entirely rosy. There will still be bottlenecks this year, Daum said in a press conference. "We are not satisfied with our progress on costs," he also admitted. The group does stand by its intention to cut fixed costs by 15 percent from the 2019 base year - so far, the figure is 8 percent. But in view of inflationary pressures, the target will now not be reached as early as 2023, as was still the prospect in November 2021 before the spin-off from the Daimler Group as a whole. The company is now taking two years longer to achieve this. The targets are ambitious, so there are always risks of not achieving them, said CFO Jochen Goetz.

The Group's order backlog has been high for some time, and according to Daum, the Group is currently sold out - and new production slots would be filled quickly by new orders. The Group estimates worldwide sales this year at 510,000 to 530,000 trucks and buses, roughly the same as last year, when they rose 14 percent to around 520,000. Daum expects sales to increase in North America, the Swabians' most profitable market. He also wants to gain market share there with a new long-haul truck, as he explained in a conference with analysts.

Total sales are expected to increase to 55 to 57 billion euros. Between 53 and 55 billion euros of this is expected to come from the vehicle business. Analysts on average had only estimated total sales at around 52 billion euros. The increase is not likely to come from volumes sold, said CFO Goetz. The price increases from last year were still having an impact, and additional price measures were being taken.

In terms of earnings before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects, Goetz estimates a "significant" increase from the previous year's figure of just under 4 billion euros. "Significant" at Daimler Truck means by at least 15 percent. Financial experts on the stock market had only expected a slight increase.

In the industrial business - i.e. excluding financial services - the operating margin is expected to be between 7.5 and 9 percent, after rising by 1.6 percentage points to 7.7 percent in the previous year. Management expects a clear improvement in margins in the Asian business and in the bus sector.

Sales climbed 28 percent to 50.9 billion euros last year thanks to increased volumes and price rises. In the previous year, covent lockdowns and supply problems with electronic chips, among other things, had significantly restricted production.

Adjusted operating profit increased by 55 percent to 3.96 billion euros. However, experts had hoped for somewhat more from the fourth quarter. The sales mix in the last three months, with a lot of low-margin business - including pull-forward effects due to new emissions standards in Brazil - gave comparatively less impetus.

CFO Goetz said costs for recalls in the U.S. had caused a burden in the high double-digit million euro range in the fourth quarter. The Mercedes-Benz truck brand, which has a strong presence primarily in Europe and South America, also made higher payments to suppliers in the fourth quarter. According to Goetz, these were due on the one hand to higher raw material prices - but smaller suppliers were also supported with one-off payments. The passenger car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Group had already taken a similar approach. Goetz said that such support measures were also possible this year.

On balance, the Group increased its profit attributable to shareholders by 14 percent to 2.67 billion euros. Daimler Truck plans to pay out 1.30 euros per share as a dividend, which is as much as expected. Employees are to receive a performance bonus totaling 7300 euros - around 25,000 pay-scale employees in Germany will benefit./men/nas/mis