DaimlerChrysler’s 2Q profit falls

DaimlerChrysler AG said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit fell 14 percent and disclosed plans to spend about $10.2 billion buying back nearly 10 percent of its shares as it moves forward without its Chrysler division. DaimlerChrysler's profit decline excluding results from Chrysler and its finance arm — which did better in the latest quarter than a year ago — was a steeper 20 percent.

The automaker said it earned 1.44 billion euros ($1.91 billion) excluding the operations it sold, compared to 1.8 billion euros a year earlier.

It now expects a charge of 2.5 billion euros for the year from the sale of Chrysler group and its financing arm, less than it had previously thought.

DaimlerChrysler also said it expects vehicle sales to be in line with the 2.1 million it sold in 2006, with revenue on par with the 99 billion euros it reported last year.

The company sold the Chrysler group and North American financial services units to Cerberus Capital Management LLC earlier this month in a $7.4 billion deal that saw the private equity group take an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler.

Including those operations, DaimlerChrysler posted an overall profit of 1.85 billion euros ($2.52 billion) for the April-June period, down 14 percent from 2.15 billion euros a year earlier. Sales fell to 23.84 billion euros ($32.52 billion) from 24.6 billion euros last year. Yahoo.com