Daimler Truck's soft orders overshadow upbeat US outlook, shares fall

By Amir Orusov

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Daimler Truck reported weaker-than-expected quarterly orders across business areas on Friday, which overshadowed upbeat comments on profitability at its North American arm and sent the truck maker's shares 4% lower.

The owner of U.S. truck brand Freightliner said its second-quarter order intake grew 27% from a year ago to 74,448 units, which was fewer than analysts had expected.

"Order intake for every segment missed consensus by a large degree," Bernstein analysts said in a note to investors.

North America recorded order intake of 35,379 vehicles, 17% below consensus, while Mercedes-Benz Trucks booked orders for 33,850 units, missing expectations by 21%, according to Bernstein.

Daimler also said it expected profitability at its North American unit to improve to between 11% and 13% in the third quarter, after stronger freight market conditions and lower tariff costs in the U.S. helped the company raise its full-year outlook last month.

The unit reported an adjusted return on sales of 8.4% for the second quarter.

"What we really see now after the first half of the year is that we're getting out of the so-called freight recession in the United States that has been affecting us for the last couple of years," Chief Financial Officer Eva Scherer told journalists.

Freight rates in the U.S. have risen about 30% since the start of the year, while freight volumes are up modestly, Scherer said. The company expects volumes to improve further in the coming quarters, she added.

Daimler said on Thursday it would build a new manufacturing facility in the United States. It is evaluating several potential locations and expects to start construction in late 2026, with production scheduled to start in 2029.

The truck maker also confirmed its financial results for the second quarter, pre-announced in July, and said it would launch the second up to €1.1 billion tranche of its share buyback programme by mid-September.

($1 = 0.8679 euros)

(Reporting by Amir Orusov in Gdansk, additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)