OREANDA-NEWS. Daimler AG concluded the year 2013 with record levels of unit sales, revenue, EBIT and net profit. The company anticipates renewed growth in 2014 due to its strong product portfolio and ongoing investment in production and new technologies as well as the expected market developments.

EBIT increased in 2013 by 23% to EUR 10.8 billion, which is the highest level in the history of Daimler AG. EBIT from ongoing business amounted to EUR 7.9 billion (2012: EUR 8.2 billion), clearly achieving the expected target of around EUR 7.5 billion. Net profit of EUR 8.7 billion was higher than ever before in the company's history (2012: EUR 6.8 billion).

Daimler further increased its unit sales in 2013. With a total of 2.35 million vehicles, the record level of the previous year was surpassed by 7%. All of the automotive divisions contributed to this growth: Mercedes-Benz Cars (+8%), Daimler Trucks (+5%), Mercedes-Benz Vans (+7%) and Daimler Buses (+5%). Driven by this growth in unit sales, Group revenue increased by 3% to the record level of EUR 118.0 billion; adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue grew by 7%.

At the Annual Shareholders' Meeting to be held on April 9, 2014, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose the distribution of a dividend of EUR 2.25 (2012: EUR 2.20) per share. The dividend distribution amounts to EUR 2,407 million (2012: EUR 2,349 million) and is equivalent to 35% of the net profit attributable to the Daimler shareholders. For the following years, Daimler aims to distribute in the region of 40% of net profit attributable to the Daimler shareholders.

The net liquidity of the industrial business developed positively and increased compared with December 31, 2012 by EUR 2.3 billion to EUR 13.8 billion. The increase is primarily due to the positive free cash flow of the industrial business, which amounted to EUR 4.8 billion in 2013 (2012: EUR 1.45 billion). In addition to the positive contributions to earnings from the automotive divisions, the free cash flow of the industrial business also profited from the successful EADS transaction. The free cash flow was also positively affected in an amount of up to EUR 1.5 billion by reporting-date factors, which will be offset in the following year. There were negative effects from high investment in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets as well as from the acquisition for EUR 0.6 billion of a 12% equity interest in BAIC Motor Corporation Ltd. (BAIC).

The workforce of the Daimler Group was fairly stable in 2013 with a total of 274,616 employees at the end of the year (end of 2012: 275,087). Daimler employed 167,447 people in Germany at the end of 2013 (end of 2012: 166,363).

Daimler supports the systematic promotion of women among other things with flexible working-time models and childcare facilities. Daimler has committed to increasing the proportion of women in executive positions to 20% throughout the Group by 2020. This ratio has continually increased in recent years and was 13% at the end of 2013. A year earlier, it was 12%. Daimler therefore met its ambition of increasing the ratio by one percentage point each year.