FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Daimler (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported weaker than expected quarterly operating profit as premium car sales were hit by the economic downturn, while better news in the truck sector, for Daimler and its peers, showed predicted slowing demand had not yet arrived.

Car and truck makers, which have benefited from robust demand in emerging markets including Brazil and China, have warned the outlook for Europe, beset by sovereign debt woes, is gloomy, with sales set to falter.

However, data on Thursday from industry group ACEA showed the signs of cooling demand reported by truck makers had not yet filtered through to order books.

Truck sales in the European Union rose 4.5 percent in September, ACEA said.

Truck manufacturers are bracing themselves for lower demand in an industry closely linked to international trade and the health of the wider economy.

World number two truck maker Volvo (VOLVb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Tuesday said it was preparing to cut output in anticipation of lower vehicle demand in Europe next year, and warned of slowing growth in emerging regions.

Competitor Scania had earlier said it would make further production cuts if economic uncertainty led to lower orders as it posted a profit drop as expected.

FRANKFURT, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Daimler (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are expected to show that the road became more bumpy in the third quarter, strewn with weak economic growth and soaring raw material costs.

Thomson Reuters StarMine, which gives more weight to analysts whose estimates have historically been more accurate, predicts that both will fall short of consensus for operating profit, when they report third-quarter results on Thursday.

Car sales growth has been shrinking in Europe, with Germany the only major market in the region to expand in September, and the boom in China that has bolstered German car makers in recent quarters has tempered to a milder pace for now.

France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen warned of pricing pressure in a tougher European market this week that was hurting its profits.

Volkswagen’s third-quarter operating profit is seen up 31.5 percent at 2.61 billion euros ($3.6 million), a Reuters poll showed.

The core automotive division’s operating margin is seen widening year-on-year to 7.3 percent from 6.1 percent, but narrowing from the 8.0 percent posted in the second quarter due to raw material costs and negative currency effects.

Ford , the second-biggest U.S. car maker, reported lower quarterly earnings on Wednesday, partly due to misjudging the threat of higher commodity costs.

FRANKFURT, Oct 18 (Reuters) – European new car registrations edged up 1.1 percent in September to 1.27 million vehicles, a slower rise than in August as Germany was the only major market in the region to post growth, data showed on Friday.

In the year so far, total new car registrations are down 0.8 percent at 10.46 million vehicles in the EU and European Free Trade Area (EFTA), according to figures from the European industry association ACEA.

The German market grew by 8.1 percent, while sales fell in Britain, Spain, France and Italy.

In September, Germany’s Volkswagen was the biggest winner, helped by almost 20 percent sales growth at its luxury brand Audi, giving the group a market share in the region of 23.2 percent.

BMW sales rose 6.8 percent, while Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz brand lost some market share.

Korean brands Hyundai and Kia grew by 18.7 percent and 27.1 percent, respectively, falling short of Nissan’s 30.8 percent gain.

By comparison, Honda saw its sales drop by 14.8 percent, and Mazda was also badly hit. Toyota sales in the region dropped 9.2 percent.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A full takeover of Suzuki Motor (7269.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is seen as unlikely after the Japanese company sought a divorce from a two-year partnership with Europe’s biggest automaker that was marred by disagreements.

German magazine Der Spiegel cited an unnamed senior manager at VW as saying he did not rule out a full takeover of Suzuki, shortly after two months of squabbling between the two companies came to a head.

“First of all, (Suzuki chairman and CEO) Osamu Suzuki would not want to sell. VW simply won’t be able to take over all of Suzuki against his will,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Schwarz said.

Suzuki said last week it wanted to end its two-year alliance after the German carmaker accused it of violating the pact by agreeing a diesel engine supply deal with Italy’s Fiat (FIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

CEO Suzuki offered to buy Volkswagen’s 19.9 percent stake in his company with cash on hand, but VW said it was happy with its investment and had no intention of selling.

Spiegel said that once the alliance had formally ended, VW would no longer need Suzuki’s approval to raise its stake in the Japanese company, but analysts were skeptical.

“I think it is rather unlikely that Volkswagen will go for a hostile takeover of Suzuki,” Macquarie Research analyst Christian Breitsprecher said.

FRANKFURT, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Germany’s engineering industry faces slower growth next year and will only see business pick up again if there is an effective solution to the European debt crisis, trade body VDMA said.

“Engineering output will reach its peak in real terms during the course of 2012,” VDMA President Thomas Lindner told journalists on Thursday, according to a prepared speech text.

VDMA, which represents a sector that is the largest industrial employer in the euro zone’s biggest economy, sees German sector output growing by 4 percent in 2012, compared with expected growth of 14 percent this year.

The rate of increase will slow from month to month over the course of 2012, Lindner said.

One reason is that measures being taken in Asia and Latin America to fight economic over-heating and inflation will dampen demand. Also, continuing financial market turbulence is having a ripple effect that progressed from early indicators to new engineering orders, output and sales, he said.

“We cannot rule out that the most recent turbulence is already impacting our orders here and there and that it will continue to have an impact,” Lindner said.

Companies such as Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), ThyssenKrupp and MAN SE count among the biggest names in the sector, which made Germany the world’s top exporter until it was unseated by China in 2009.

FRANKFURT, Aug 24 (Reuters) – A German court said it doubted that the German state’s monopoly on sports betting was legal ahead of a planned relaxation of the country’s stringent gambling laws.

The state of Hesse’s administrative court based its doubts on the fact that the German government had reacted insufficiently to the immense growth of gambling offers in areas other than sports betting, particularly in amusement arcades, and that regulators had so far not objected to aggressive advertising by the state-run lottery.

The statement was part of a ruling dated Aug. 9 and published on Wednesday in which the court overturned a decision to stop an unnamed German company from brokering sports bets for a Malta-based partner company while an appeal was pending.

“There was no indication of a public interest in the ban taking effect immediately because … a so-called concession model will be tested in coming years that will also make it legal for private companies to broker sports bets,” the court said.

Germany’s 16 states have an iron grip on the gambling market, although they are awarding seven nationwide licences for sports betting companies from next year.

Third-party companies such as betting firms, including Bwin.party , have criticised the states’ plans as anti-competitive.

The largely illegal German sports betting market is estimated to be worth about 5 billion euros ($7.2 billion).

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Air Berlin’s (AB1.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Joachim Hunold quit on Thursday after the carrier posted a quarterly loss and cut its network in the quest for a first annual profit since 2007.

Shares of Air Berlin, Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa (LHAG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), turned positive after the announcement, rising as much as 4.4 percent, and were 2.6 percent higher at 2.49 euros by 0917 GMT.

Air Berlin said it was suffering from a German air travel tax and high fuel costs which it was unable to pass on to customers.

The carrier said it would focus on profitable routes by cutting more than 1 million seats from capacity, though it does not expect any positive impact on earnings before next year.

Hunold, who is stepping down September 1, recommended that Hartmut Mehdorn, the former CEO of state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn, replace him on an interim basis.

TAXING TIMES

Air Berlin warned that low-cost carriers would suffer disproportionately from the tax levied in Germany since the start of the year.

FRANKFURT, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Loss-making Air Berlin said it was unable to pass rising costs from a German air travel tax and high fuel prices on to customers, forcing it to slim down its route network to become profitable.

Air Berlin, which has not posted an annual net profit since 2007, warned on Thursday that low-cost carriers would suffer disproportionately from the tax levied in Germany since the start of the year.

“Since also the aviation industry is subject to the fundamental law of supply and demand, price-conscious customers in particular are buying less when the total price for an airline ticket rises because of the additional tax,” Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa said.

The tax, which added 44.5 million euros ($62.7 million) to Air Berlin’s costs in the second quarter, comes on top of a toxic mixture of high fuel costs, political unrest and a drop in traffic caused by the March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that is creating headaches for airlines around the world.

Air Berlin, which has been unable to keep up with domestic rival Lufthansa in competition for heavily travelled routes such as Hamburg-Frankfurt, already published key quarterly results last week.

It said its loss before interest and taxes widened slightly to 32.2 million euros, and warned it may not be profitable on an operating basis this year.

It also racked up debt when it aggressively expanded via acquisitions and placed aircraft orders before the global economic crisis. It has since had to sell planes, cancel some orders for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, issue a bond and new shares to pay down debt.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) are both willing to develop further their exclusive talks, begun last month, on power station ventures and gas prices, the German utility said on Tuesday.

“There is a match of interests. We want to conclude a new, modernized gas supply treaty with our biggest supplier … while Gazprom for its part wants to increase its value creation here,” Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann said in a press call.

“If we work hard at, it we can soon reach a result that will be interesting for both sides,” he added.

The utility and the Russian gas monopoly signed a memorandum of understanding in July to hold three months of exclusive talks to explore energy projects that could lead to a gas and coal power joint venture in Germany, Britain and the Benelux countries.

Germany’s decision to exit nuclear power has prompted its largest utilities to look to Russia for investment and as a source of natural gas for low-carbon power production.

Because of Germany’s decision, RWE said its core net profit plunged 40 percent in the first six months of the year.

Grossmann said suitable assets in Germany, Britain and the Benelux countries were being selected for the potential venture. RWE would like any deal to comprise plants fired by hard coal and brown coal as well as the gas-fired that would be a natural fit for the Russian company.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – RWE’s (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) first-half core net profit fell 40 percent, hit by a government decision to phase out nuclear power and unprofitable gas sales, highlighting the problems faced by the German utility’s new CEO-designate.

Germany’s largest power producer said on Tuesday first-half profit took a 900 million euro ($845 million) hit from provisions to decommission nuclear power plants, the write-off of nuclear fuel rods and a nuclear fuel tax.

RWE, which prepared for a strategy revamp on Monday when naming Dutch accountant Peter Terium as chief executive from next year, said on Tuesday he would take charge of political talks immediately.

Germany shut eight nuclear power plants following Japan’s nuclear disaster. The government also decided to phase out nuclear power completely by 2022, overturning legislation that had extended the lifespan of 17 plants.

RWE, whose incumbent CEO Juergen Grossmann has the moniker “nuclear Rambo” in Berlin, is especially vulnerable to the nuclear exit because it relies heavily on nuclear and coal-fired power generation and the company would need to invest heavily to bolster its gas and renewable energy business.

Also, investments RWE made in recent years have laden its balance sheet with about 30 billion euros debt, and long-term contracts with suppliers such as Russian monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) squeeze margins in the gas business.

RWE, which has been in talks to secure better conditions from suppliers, said it expected burdens to increase over the next year since new terms would not take effect until 2012/13.