OREANDA-NEWS. The earnings posted by Daimler AG (ticker symbol DAI) for the second quarter of 2013 were significantly higher than in the second quarter of last year and than the market expected. Daimler’s Group EBIT for the period of April through June amounted to EUR 5,242 million (Q2 2012: EUR 2,268 million).

Earnings for the second quarter were boosted by a gain totaling EUR 3.2 billion related to the remeasurement and to the sale of the remaining EADS shares. As a result of that transaction, net profit amounted to EUR 4,583 million (Q2 2012: EUR 1,565 million). Earnings per share amounted to EUR 2.65 (Q2 2012: EUR 1.39); adjusted for the EADS effect, earnings per share were EUR 1.25.

In the second quarter of 2013, the Daimler Group sold 605,800 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide, surpassing the prior-year by 6%.

The Daimler Group’s second-quarter revenue amounted to EUR 29.7 billion, which is 3% higher than in the second quarter of last year. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue grew by 5%.

The free cash flow amounted to EUR 2.3 billion in the first half of 2013. The net liquidity of the industrial business of EUR 11.3 billion was slightly below the level of December 31, 2012.

At the end of the second quarter of 2013, Daimler employed 276,044 people worldwide (end of Q2 2012: 273,749). Of that total, 167,926 were employed in Germany (end of Q2 2012: 166,477), 21,555 in the United States (end of Q2 2012: 22,137), 14,348 in Brazil (end of Q2 2012: 14,712) and 11,404 in Japan (end of Q2 2012: 11,417). The consolidated subsidiaries in China employed 1,834 people at the end of the second quarter (end of Q2 2012: 2,374). The decreased headcount in China resulted from the integration of the sales organizations for cars into a non-consolidated joint-venture company. In South Africa, employees in sales functions were previously allocated to the Mercedes-Benz Cars division and are now reported within the sales organization.