Original by Yan Shanshan Observer.com.
According to Reuters, on February 22, local time, Ola K Llenius, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, warned after announcing the company's annual results that any increased protectionist measures against China by the European Union would have a devastating impact on an economic region like Europe.
According to CNBC, Kang Linsong also said on the same day that although the macroeconomic environment is "challenging" due to the background of regional conflicts and escalating geopolitical tensions, Mercedes-Benz will not scale back its investment in future development and has no plans to exit any market at present.
The head of the German auto giant warned last month that the auto industry faces the threat of rising protectionism at a time when the integration of the first chain is more global than ever.
On February 22, 2024 local time, in Stuttgart, Germany, Kang Linsong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Group, attended the annual results meeting of Mercedes-Benz Group. (Source: Visual China).
On February 22, local time, Kang Linsong attended the Mercedes-Benz Group's annual results meeting held in Stuttgart, Germany. According to the 2023 annual financial report, the German automaker's revenue in 2023 is 15321.8 billion euros, up 2.8 billion year-on-year1%；Net profit was 1453.1 billion euros, down 19%；Free cash flow from the Industrial business was 1131.6 billion euros, up 39 percent year-on-year.
Among them, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Mercedes-Benz Group's revenue was 4026.1 billion euros, higher than market expectations and down 18%；Net profit was 31600 million euros, down 215%；Free cash flow from the Industrial segment was 344.2 billion euros, up 39 percent year-on-year.
Following the better-than-expected cash flow, Mercedes also announced a €3 billion buyback program.
According to the American "Fortune" magazine**, Mercedes-Benz stock price responded on the same day**46%, the biggest one-day increase in a year. Kang said there was a possibility of additional buybacks if the group could maintain free cash flow as it had done in the past few years.
The German company plans to sell more high-end cars like the S-Class to boost profits and fund the costly transition to electrification.
Analysts at investment bank Jefferies said on the 22nd that although there were no major surprises in earnings, the cashback policy was "a sign of confidence, in line with the positioning of high-end luxury goods, (* buybacks will maintain earnings per share (EPS) growth".
Today, we presented a very strong performance from Mercedes-Benz Cars and an outstanding year for our Light Commercial Vehicle division. Kang Linsong said. Mercedes-Benz's light commercial vehicle business achieved a record 44 percent of its annual sales780,000 units, up 8% y/y, and sales of 20.3 billion euros, up 18% y/y.
However, Kang Linsong said that ** restrictions had an impact on the group in the second half of 2023 and that this impact will continue in the first quarter of 2024.
Mercedes-Benz Group warned that the bottleneck of the ** chain of key components is still a "major risk factor", and said that there are "extraordinary uncertainties" in geopolitical events and policies, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East conflict and the ** issue between Western powers and China.
With inflation and rising chain costs, the group expects flat growth in 2024, while the adjusted return on sales of the passenger car business is expected to decline to 10%-12% from 12%-14% in 2023.
Kang Linsong told CNBC on the same day that the group is ready to overcome various macroeconomic headwinds.
He said the group is working with partners to address the constraints and is now increasing the capacity that has been prepared over the past few months, "In the first quarter and towards the end of the year, I think we will address these issues so that in the second quarter we can return to a more normal situation." ”
Acknowledging that the macroeconomic environment is "challenging", he said Mercedes-Benz would not scale back its investment in future developments.
This does not mean that we are going to withdraw from any one market, we are always trying to reach our maximum potential in the more than 150 countries in which we are active. Kang Linsong said.
He added that the group has not cut back on investment and is at the highest level of investment in history, preparing to launch a whole new generation of products, some of which will be launched this year, "but a real product offensive, especially in the field of pure electric vehicles, which will start in 2025 and continue into 2026 and beyond." ”
Reuters noted that after announcing the group's annual results, Kang Linsong expressed concern about the EU wielding ***. He said that any increased protectionist measures by the EU against China would have a devastating impact on economic regions such as Europe.
In fact, Kang Linsong has repeatedly expressed concern about the protectionism of the Western bloc recently.
According to the Financial Times on January 6, Kang Linsong said that the automotive industry faces the threat of rising protectionism at a time when chain integration is more global than ever.
Kang Linson, who has been at the helm of Mercedes-Benz since 2019, noted: "Politically, the past.
In the three, four, or five years, there has been a trend towards increased protectionism, and this is something that companies will have to deal with. ”
According to the report, the shortage of semiconductors and the restriction of the export of some chips by the United States to China have promoted the regionalization of some purchases in the automotive industry to a certain extent, but Kang Linsong believes that this approach has limitations.
I believe that we can return to a world where everything is on our own, only for ourselves......This is not how a mature industry works. He noted that any Mercedes-Benz car is manufactured "on almost five continents."
In September last year, Kang Linsong said in an interview with Bloomberg that because "the open market is the driving force for growth and the driving force for wealth creation", and the auto industry depends on the global ** chain. According to Bloomberg, Kang Linsong intends to show that measures to try to "decouple" from China will pose risks to healthy competition and the global automotive chain.
In April last year, Kang Linsong said in an interview with the German newspaper ** that cutting off economic ties with China is.
Doing so would put much of Germany's industry at risk. In his opinion, Europe should seek a win-win situation in the areas of economic growth and climate protection, rather than "competing and competing with each other".
In response to the recent reports in the United States and Europe that protectionist measures have been taken against China's electric vehicles, China's first spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on February 20 that division of labor and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win results are a significant feature of the automotive industry chain. The leapfrog development of China's automobile industry has provided global consumers with high-quality and cost-effective products. In the name of "de-risking", the countries concerned have built "small courtyards and high walls", and instead of pursuing "running faster", they have tried to "trip over others", which seems to have won, but in fact they have lost their own long-term development and dragged down the progress and prosperity of the world.
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He warned the European Union: If it takes one more step against China, it will hurt Yan Shanshan
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Original title: "He warned the EU: If you take one more step against China, you will hurt yourself".