LEINFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Following last year's recovery, commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck also has ambitious plans for 2023. Chief Executive Officer Martin Daum wants to further increase revenue thanks to likely rising sales in the important North American market and picking up business with financial services, and operating profit is expected to pick up unexpectedly significantly. Last year, the Group made up a lot of ground with high price increases. This could also continue to drive the Group forward: The order backlog has been high for some time, and Daimler Truck is barely keeping up with production.

The stock rose 1.6 percent in early trading Friday in a weak market. The stock had already done well in recent weeks, gaining more than 40 percent since its low in the fall. Analyst Himanshu Agarwal of U.S. investment bank Jefferies bemoaned a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter performance. However, the outlook could provide for rising market expectations. In the view of JPMorgan analyst Jose Asumendi, the group's outlook for the commercial vehicle markets is still too cautious in view of full order books.

Daimler expects a strong development in the markets that are important for the company. The Group estimates global unit sales at 510,000 to 530,000 trucks and buses, up 14 percent last year to around 520,000. Daum expects sales to increase in North America, the Swabian company's most profitable market.

Total sales are expected to increase to between 55 and 57 billion euros, as the company announced on Friday in Leinfelden-Echterdingen near Stuttgart. Between 53 and 55 billion euros of this is expected to come from the vehicle business. Analysts had on average expected total sales of only around 52 billion euros.

In terms of earnings before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects, CFO Jochen Goetz estimates a "significant" increase from the previous year's figure of just under 4 billion euros. At Daimler Truck, "significant" means an increase of at least 15 percent. Financial experts on the stock market had expected only a slight increase of 4.2 billion euros. In the industrial business - i.e. excluding financial services - the operating margin is expected to be between 7.5 and 9 percent, having increased by 1.6 percentage points to 7.7 percent in the previous year. Management expects a clear improvement in margins in the Asian business and in the bus sector.

Sales climbed 28 percent to 50.9 billion euros last year thanks to increased volumes and price rises. In the previous year, covent lockdowns and supply problems with electronic chips, among other things, had significantly restricted production.

Adjusted operating profit increased by 55 percent to 3.96 billion euros. However, experts had hoped for somewhat more from the fourth quarter. Experts had already pointed out that the sales mix in the last three months, with a lot of low-margin business, was unlikely to have been a driver.

On balance, the Group increased its profit attributable to shareholders by 14 percent to 2.67 billion euros. Daimler Truck plans to pay out 1.30 euros per share as a dividend, which is as much as expected./men/nas/jha/