Mercedes 1999 Annual Report Download - page 8

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CHAIRMEN’S LETTER
2
C H A I R M E N ’ S L E T T E R
A Clear Direction:
Strategies for Growth
■Revenues up 14% to €150 billion (US $151 billion)
■Operating profit* up 20% to €10.3 billion (US $10.4
billion)
■Net income* up 16% to €6.2 billion (US $6.3 billion)
■Earnings per share* up 11% to €6.21 (US $6.25)
■We sold almost 4.9 million cars, light trucks and
commercial vehicles – and once again increased market
share in virtually every segment in which we operate –
despite intense competition.
■We added €2.1 (US $2.2) billion in value in 1999
(operating profit less our cost of capital)
1) Financial Times, November 1999
Dear Shareholders and Employees:
At the start of the 20th century, your company’s founders
had just invented the automobile. We enter the 21st century
a world leader in the automotive industry and one of the
world’s five most respected companies.1)
This report covers our first full year since the creation of
DaimlerChrysler, and we are delighted to tell you that 1999
capped a hundred years of extraordinary progress. This was
a year of record sales across our brands, of expanded market
shares, technological innovations, and major advances in the
way we design and build our vehicles, serve our customers
and manage our business portfolio. All of our major auto-
motive brands – Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge,
Freightliner, Sterling, Setra – as well as our services
company debis and Dasa, our aerospace division, had a
great year.
Profit growth once again outstripped revenue growth by
more than we had anticipated. Net income is 19% up on
1998, and we have proposed a dividend of €2.35 per share5
Adjusted net income also rose by 16% to €6.2 billion
(US $6.3 billion). This made us one of the most profitable
of the major automotive groups in 1999.
This year of record performance by DaimlerChrysler was not
evident in the DCX share price. This, in our view, is largely a
reflection of transformations in the global economy. Tele-
communications and IT growth stocks grabbed the attention
of investors, while value stocks such as those of the auto-
motive industry, lagged behind. Investors were also concern-
ed about a possible slowdown in the US market. So we know
that our current share price does not properly reflect the
high potential of this great company. And we are working to
therefore realize our true value.
However, as you will see throughout this Annual Report,
when it comes to assessing the value of this company, we do
more than insist on its potential. We are constantly turning
that potential into performance. And in 1999 we achieved a
level of performance that demonstrates what we believe real
value is all about.
*Excluding one-time effects.