German auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz more than doubled its operating profit despite widespread supply bottlenecks, the group said Thursday in its first set of annual results since splitting with its truck subsidiary.
Mercedes, which changed its name from Daimler at the beginning of the month, saw the key measure rise 19.2 billion euros ($21.6 billion) from 8.6 billion euros in the previous year.
The adjusted figure did not include the one-off bump of 9.2 billion euros to Mercedes’s results from the spin-off of its subsidiary Daimler Trucks, which rolled onto the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at the end of last year.
Including the windfall, the group’s net profit increased almost six-fold to 23.4 billion euros from four billion euros in 2020, when the industry was battered by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The strong result came “even as the COVID-19 pandemic and semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks continued to affect the business”, Mercedes said in a statement.
Shortages of the key component, which has held back production in the industry, has weighed relatively less on luxury manufacturers like Mercedes.
The emphasis on high-end models saw the group’s adjusted margin on sales of cars and vans rise to 12.7 percent from 6.9 percent in 2020.
Notably, the average cost of a vehicle sold by Mercedes rose by 26 percent in 2021.
The end of year results were “a strong demonstration of the potential of this brand”, CEO Ola Kaellenius said in a statement.
The remodelled group’s revenues rose to 168 billion euros in 2021 from 154 billion euros the year before, despite slipping slightly in the fourth quarter.
Revenues were down seven percent in the last three months of 2021 to 43 billion euros, while the carmaker’s adjusted operating profit remained broadly stable at 5.2 billion euros.
For this year, Mercedes expected to see revenue “slightly above” 2021, despite its expectation that “supply constraints related to semiconductors will continue to impact the market in 2022”.