TRATON SE significantly increased its sales revenue and operating profit in fiscal year 2018. Sales revenue rose by 6% to €25.9 billion across all brands. The company’s adjusted operating profit increased by about 13% to approximately €1.7 billion1 more than doubling the rise in sales revenue. This performance is reflected in the continued improvement of the adjusted operating return on sales of 6.4 % (previous year: 6.0%). Andreas Renschler, the CEO of TRATON and a member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, said: “TRATON has performed exceptionally well since being established three years ago. We remain right on track to become a Global Champion. As a group of strong brands, we create success for our customers and tap synergies together. We are ready to take the next steps.”
Now that the company has systematically taken steps to achieve capital market readiness and streamlined its portfolio, it will now focus on a new system of financial reporting. These changes affect prior-year comparisons.
Reporting at TRATON SE is now broken down into two segments: Industrial Business and Financial Services. Industrial Business comprises the operating activities of TRATON’s truck and bus brands. In 2018, this segment generated a sales revenue of €25.0 billion (previous year: €23.4 billion), an adjusted operating profit of €1.5 billion (previous year: €1.3 billion) and an adjusted operating return on sales of 5.9% (previous year: 5.6%). In 2018, the Financial Services segment recorded an operating profit of €138 million (previous year: €111 million) and a sales revenue of €760 million (previous year: €721 million).
Strong performance by the brands
All three TRATON brands produced strong results in 2018. Sales revenue of the MAN Truck & Bus operating unit rose by about 8% to €10.8 billion. The increase in adjusted operating profit, at about 13% to €540 million, was much more pronounced than the rise in sales revenue here, too. The adjusted operating return on sales was 5.0% (previous year: 4.8%). To be able to produce profitable growth in the future, MAN Truck & Bus will continue to take steps that are designed to optimize its processes and cost structures. The sales revenue of the Scania Vehicles & Services operating unit rose once again by more than 4% and totaled about €13 billion. The operating profit was weighed down by the additional costs associated with the introduction of the new truck generation but rose by more than 3% to €1.2 billion. At 9.3%, the operating return on sales at Scania Vehicles & Services was almost on the same level with the previous year (9.4%). Following an economically weak year of 2017 in Brazil, sales revenue of the Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus operating unit increased by about 22% to €1.4 billion in 2018. Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus recorded an operating profit for the first time since Brazil’s economic crisis which rose to €28 million on the back of an increase in sales revenue and the implementation of systematic efficiency programs.
Christian Schulz, CFO of the TRATON GROUP, said: “With the help of our brands, we strengthened our global market position, continued to increase our sales revenue, and raised the adjusted operating profit disproportionately compared to sales revenue.”
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SOURCE: Volkswagen
