Daimler Supervisory Board Decides on Further Allocation to German Pension Fund

STUTTGART -- Dec. 9, 2015: 

• Extraordinary pension contribution of €1.0 billion to German pension fund
• The company continues to safeguard the employees' retirement provision while investing in its own future
• Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "Thanks to our employees' great efforts and commitment, our company is enduringly successful. It is therefore especially important to us to safeguard the long-term pension claims of the employees with the pension fund."

Today, the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG decided on an extraordinary contribution to the pension fund of €1.0 billion.

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "Thanks to our employees' great efforts and commitment, our company is enduringly successful. It is therefore especially important to us to safeguard the long-term pension claims of the employees with the pension fund. With this allocation to the German pension fund, we want to give them even more security for their future planning. At the same time, we are investing in the future and the sustained success of the company."

The allocation of €1.0 billion to the Daimler Group's pension fund will have positive effects on interest income and net profit in the coming years, but will have no impact on Group EBIT. The extraordinary pension allocation will reduce industrial net liquidity accordingly. At the end of the third quarter of 2015, industrial net liquidity amounted to €19.5 billion, which is €2.5 billion more than at the end of 2014.

Bodo Uebber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services: "The renewed allocation to the pension fund leads to a significant increase in the funded status of our pension obligations. It strengthens the pension fund in order to safeguard future pension payments. We are thus also taking account of the ongoing low level of interest rates."

Including this allocation, the Group has paid more than €9.1 billion into its pension fund since the beginning of 2010; in 2014, the Supervisory Board approved an extraordinary allocation to the German pension fund of €2.5 billion. The sharp decrease in interest rates and thus also in discount rates since 2011 has led to a significant increase in pension obligations, reducing the positive effect of the payments into the pension fund. With the allocation now decided upon, the company is further safeguarding the pension claims of the employees with a pension fund invested in long-term assets. The funded status of the pension claims is now on a even higher level.