To Our Shareholders
To Our Shareholders
Dear shareholders,
2025 was a challenging year for the TRATON GROUP and our customers due to a volatile macroeconomic environment. Nevertheless, we can proudly look back on the many challenges we have tackled together while defending our market share. We delivered on a key milestone, the establishment of a TRATON GROUP R&D on July 1, 2025. The team of 9,000 engineers now jointly develop products for customers of all our brands and continue to contribute to our main competitive advantage: the TRATON Modular System (TMS). Standardized interfaces will ensure that the product offering fits our customers’ needs globally. The work with the TRATON Modular System is not done. It is a complex task to implement it in all four brands, each with their unique competence and history. Overcoming this challenge will lead us to become stronger as a Group.
Another key milestone that I want to highlight is the bold steps we have taken in China, the world’s largest truck market. We have succeeded in establishing an industrial hub in Rugao. Then the TRATON GROUP unveiled NEXT ERA, an ‘In China, with China’ tractor product range. Local production in Rugao and the evolution of the TMS allow for a further extension of our product and service portfolio and business models to better fit the Chinese long-haul market, and to drive change towards a more sustainable transport system.
Finally, we continue to push ourselves and our industry when it comes to our sustainability promise. At COP30 in Belém, Volkswagen Truck & Bus, together with a coalition of logistics companies, infrastructure providers, and the Brazilian government, presented the e-Dutra project, one of the largest private-sector collaborations to decarbonize freight in Brazil’s transportation industry. By aggregating demand and aligning stakeholders, the initiative aims to reduce the risk of investment in charging infrastructure and accelerate the deployment of zero-emission trucks.
The TRATON leadership team has been very stable throughout the year. There have been no changes in the TRATON Executive Board. Karl Bernqvist joined us in the function of Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) at TRATON and CPO at MAN. He brings impressive experience from almost all the TRATON brands and many years in procurement.
The TRATON GROUP responded to the demanding economic and political environment in 2025 with adaptations in our roadmap, such as a slower ramp-up of electrification in North America. Furthermore, we have put cost control in focus while continuing to invest sensibly in areas that are vital for the future of the Group. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to some very talented colleagues whom I sincerely thank for their commitment to our mission. Despite headwind from the markets, this enabled us to mitigate the decline of financial key performance indicators. The TRATON GROUP’s unit sales totaled 305,500 vehicles in 2025, 9% below the prior-year level. Sales revenue decreased by 7% to €44.1 billion. Adjusted operating result came in at around €2.8 billion, down 37% year-on-year. At 6.3%, operating return on sales was within the forecast range of 6.0 to 7.0%. This achievement would not have been possible without the commitment of every one of our 107,000 employees around the world.
As our shareholders, our performance benefited you in two ways. In May 2025, we paid out a dividend of €1.70 per share for the very successful fiscal year 2024, €0.20 more than the previous year. Along with the positive share price performance, this led to a total shareholder return of 15.2% in 2025, based on the Xetra listing. Our dividend policy is clear. It is based on a payout ratio of 30 to 40% of the Group's consolidated earnings after tax. Therefore, we are proposing to the Annual General Meeting 2026 that a dividend of €0.93 be paid out per share for this fiscal year.
I trust that we can continue to count on your support as our shareholders.
Kind regards
Christian Levin
CEO of TRATON SE