F&I Management & Training

Daimler has shocked investors by becoming the first major European carmaker to issue a sharp profit warning for this year. The company said that sluggish growth in the car market was taking its toll on earnings. As a result shares in Daimler fell almost 12% after it lowered its profit forecast by more than 10% to around ?7 billion. Previously the company had predicted that profits would be significantly higher than last year's ?7.7bn Chief executive Dieter Zetsche said rising prices for raw materials such as steel and the strong euro were also partly to blame. But, he said the bigger reason was the drastic slowdown in European and US markets in the past few months. Analysts were surprised since Daimler had been seen as one of the least likely car companies to issue a profit warning.

DATED: 28.07.08

FEED: AW