DaimlerChrysler Profits Rose in '98
Meanwhile, DaimlerChrysler announced today from its U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., that approximately 81,000 U.S. employees will receive profit sharing payments averaging $7,400.
That is 61 percent higher than the average 1997 payment, President Thomas Stallkamp said in a statement.
More than 19,000 management and professional-administrative employees also will be eligible for profot sharing payments under the same formula, the statement said.
While the reported earnings were at the lower end of analysts' expectations, earnings per share beat the forecasts, rising 30 percent to $6.54.
"Fundamentally the company is doing very well," said Rolla Kautz, an auto analyst with BHF Bank in Frankfurt. "It's definitely a good start. There's nothing to worry about."
In morning trading in Frankfurt, DaimlerChrysler shares were down 1.6 percent, roughly in line with the market. Frankfurt's Xetra DAX index was 1.4 percent lower.
DaimlerChrysler said operating profit was up 38 percent over 1997 to $10.1 billion, and pretax profit rose 32 percent to $9.6 billion.
The new transportation entity said the 1998 pretax profit data included merger-related costs of $804 million.
Group sales reached $155 billion in 1998, a 12 percent increase over 1997. The company did not break down the results among divisions, saying details would be presented March 31 at its annual year-end news conference in Stuttgart.
DaimlerChrysler had announced in December that its 1998 profits would be "significantly higher" than the combined 1997 results of Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp., and that sales would be up about 13 percent.
It also said then that substantial benefits from the merger, completed in November, would appear in 1999. But DaimlerChrysler did not provide an earnings outlook for 1999, surprising some industry watchers. After Volkswagen caught investors off-guard Tuesday by issuing a 1999 profit warning, traders had expected DaimlerChrysler to present an upbeat forecast.
A proposed dividend of $2.76 per share was to be considered by DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board at its March 30 meeting.
