Daimler pledge

Daimler pledge

GERMANY'S Daimler-Benz wooed shareholder support for its $42bn translatlantic merger with Chrysler Corp over the weekend, pledging sharp profit gains and higher dividend payouts.

Daimler said that it would raise its dividend after the merger with Chrysler is completed later this year, in a bid to match the kind of payouts that Chrysler shareholders have enjoyed and forecast operating profits of DM6.16bn this year rising to DM8.65bn in 1999 and DM10.23bn the year after.