DaimlerChrysler Makes Changes To Management

FRANKFURT, Jan 31, 2003; Reuters reported on Friday that carmaker DaimlerChrysler was trimming two members from its management board but extending its chief financial officer Manfred Gentz's contract by a year.

The world's fifth-largest carmaker said Gentz, 61, whose contract was due to run out at the end of this year, would stay on at least until the end of 2004 when the contract could be renewed again.

The head of the group's Chrysler arm, Dieter Zetsche, 49, and its Commercial Vehicles division chief, Eckhard Cordes, 52, who are both seen as possible successors to Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp, had their contracts extended by five years.

"It is important that Gentz is staying in this job because he is a very conservative CFO who has a long tradition of communicating well with the financial markets," said HVB analyst Georg Stuerzer.

"Zetsche and Cordes are both favoured by Schrempp. He has to bring in younger people because his contract ends in 2005, and there will be a discussion about his successor," Stuerzer said.

Daimler also said Klaus Mangold, 59, currently head of the group's leasing and financial services arm, as well as board members Manfred Bischoff, 60, and Gary Valade, 60, would step down from the management board at the end of 2003.

Bodo Uebber, 43, currently the finance chief of DaimlerChrysler Services, would take over from Mangold as the new head of the financial services unit.

DaimlerChrysler shares, which have rallied in recent days as investors anticipate good fourth-quarter results next week, were up 2.3 percent at 28.41 euros in late Frankfurt trade, in line with the DJ European autos index.

The company is expected to report substantially higher 2002 profits on February 4 as it reaps the rewards of a deep restructuring at its Chrysler arm in the United States which it began in February 2001.

A Reuters poll of 18 analysts on average forecast fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit of 1.394 billion euros ($1.52 billion), more than double the previous year's figure.