FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Daimler posted robust quarterly results that underwhelmed investors whose expectations had been inflated by recent stellar reports by peers such as Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and truck maker Volvo (VOLVb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Shares of Daimler slid to the bottom of the German blue-chip index .GDAXI as well as the STOXX Europe 600 Automobiles & Parts index, trading 2.1 percent lower at 51.97 euros at 0829 GMT.

Daimler’s first-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 71 percent to 2.03 billion euros ($3 billion), helped by strong passenger car demand from emerging markets and a robust truck business.

That was slightly above the average analyst estimate of 1.99 billion euros in a Reuters poll but not enough to move Daimler shares higher.

“While the first quarter was definitely a good quarter for Daimler, it also shows that it becomes more difficult for the company to surprise positively as expectations are high,” Equinet analyst Tim Schuldt said.

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, this week blasted through market forecasts as it reported emerging markets boosted its quarterly business.

Daimler’s passenger car business also benefited from demand in China — now the world’s largest car market — where it sold 82 percent more cars in the first three months of 2011 than in the year-earlier period.

FRANKFURT, April 27 (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Europe’s largest carmaker, tore through quarterly earnings forecasts with emerging markets fuelling a sharp rise in sales and taking it closer to its goal of overtaking Toyota (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Carmakers have turned to booming markets such as Brazil, Russia and China — now the world’s largest auto market — for growth as European markets stagnate.

VW, whose stable of brands includes Audi, Skoda and Seat, sold 14 percent more vehicles in the first quarter of the year thanks to demand from abroad and a low exposure to supply-chain problems related to the crisis in Japan.

“We continue to see the most dynamic growth prospects in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America, whereas the industrialised nations will continue to experience only moderate growth,” Volkswagen said on Wednesday.

Bernstein Research said VW’s strong performance was part of a wider trend of demand for German marques.

“The world wants to buy German vehicles, and BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Mercedes (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and VW are taking market share everywhere,” Bernstein analysts said in a note on Wednesday.

The country’s car exports jumped by 24 percent in 2010, but German carmakers are already producing more vehicles abroad than in their home market to meet demand from countries such as the United States and China.

FRANKFURT, March 25 (Reuters) – European carmakers face production cuts and a squeeze on profits if difficulties persist in sourcing car parts from Japan, with some analysts saying they could lose up to 2.4 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of annual profits.

Some companies in Europe have already started cutting production as problems mount at Japanese parts makers, hit by the effects of the devastating earthquake and tsunami, in turn hampering carmakers and suppliers around the world.

European carmakers get electronic parts, semiconductors and some mechanical parts such as gear boxes from Japan.

Some say it could be months, rather than weeks, before production gets back on track in Japan, where lost production in the two weeks since the quake tops a third of a million vehicles. [ID:nL3E7EC03B]

Commerzbank said in a worst-case scenario of a complete shut-down of Japanese production for a month — which it said was not very likely — European carmakers could take a 2.4 billion euro ($3.4 billion) hit to pretax profit in 2011.

Italy’s Fiat (FIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) would likely be worst hit because they are less profitable than for instance their German peers.

Modern cars have as many as 30,000 parts supplied by many different component makers. A single missing bolt can halt assembly lines and set off a chain reaction in the industry’s famed just-in-time manufacturing process.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Hilton Worldwide Chief Executive Chris Nassetta said the hotel operator was not rushing to go public and would concentrate for now on expanding in fast-growing markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

“(An initial public offering) is certainly something we will consider at some point,” he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

“But we’re not in a rush to do an IPO.”

Private equity company Blackstone (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) bought Hilton for $26 billion in 2007 to add to its already-significant portfolio of hotel and resort properties that included more than 100,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Europe.

“An IPO is ultimately something that is up to our parent Blackstone,” Nassetta said.

Hilton Worldwide operates more than 3,600 hotels with brands including the Waldorf Astoria, Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn & Suites and is focusing on expansion in fast-growing markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

“China and India clearly offer major growth,” Nassetta said.

FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) – Travel companies warned on Wednesday that rising oil prices could hurt demand and squeeze margins in an industry already battling fierce competition, severe weather and political risk.

Starwood Hotels Chief Executive Frits van Paasschen told Reuters that he had not yet seen any effect on demand but warned that a continued rise could pose problems.

“That could slow the economy, and hotel demand is a function of the economy, and if fuel prices were high enough to cut back on air travel, that would also have an effect,” he said.

International oil prices hit a 2-1/2 year high recently, with U.S. crude staying above $100 per barrel due to unrest in Libya.

As long as major oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia keep supplying enough crude, the situation should be manageable, he said.

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week that top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was capable of covering any Libyan oil production outage.

Cathay Pacific warned that high oil prices could hurt its results this year, and analysts said they expected that the Hong Kong-based carrier would follow rivals including Qantas Airways in raising its fuel surcharge.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Lufthansa announced a bigger than expected 2010 dividend after a one-time tax effect and steady economic recovery boosted its bottom line, sending its shares higher.

Germany’s flagship carrier said on Wednesday it would propose paying shareholders a dividend of 0.60 euros per share, almost 40 percent more than the Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S consensus of 0.43 euros, after paying none a year earlier.

“The dividend is good news,” a Frankfurt-based trader, who declined to be named, said, adding the news was encouraging investors.

Lufthansa stock was up 3.2 percent at 15.09 euros by 1308 GMT, outperforming the STOXX Europe 600 Travel & Leisure index, which was up 1.8 percent.

Lufthansa swung to a 2010 net profit of 1.1 billion euros ($1.53 billion) that was more than double the consensus of 485 million, helped by a 400 million-euros one-time tax effect and economic recovery.

Lufthansa is due to publish full 2010 results on March 17, at which time it is also expected to comment on its expectations for 2011.

The company said in October it expected business to remain strong into 2011 after demand for international premium class travel and cargo services improved in the quarter up to the end of September.

FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) – The gunman who shot dead two U.S. airmen in a U.S. Army bus at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday was probably a lone operator motivated by radical Islamist beliefs, German authorities said Thursday.

German media had reported the man could be part of a terrorist cell, raising the potential threat of further attacks on U.S. targets in Germany.

“He is a lone perpetrator according to our investigations so far,” said Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rhein, adding there were no signs he belonged to a terrorist group. “There are reasons to believe that he is a radical Muslim.”

Police arrested the man, who seriously wounded two further airmen, after the attack. Rhein said initial investigations had shown him to be willing to confess.

The gunman, identified as Arid Uka, is a 21-year old Kosovo national who was working on a short-term contract at the Frankfurt international postal center, authorities said.

Germany’s new federal interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said the investigation was being carried out “at high speed” but there was no reason to increase security now.

“There is suspicion that the killing may have been motivated by Islamism,” state prosecutors said, although not elaborating on the nature of the Islamism.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Governments started arranging for planes on Sunday to bring home citizens stuck in Egypt, where violent protests of the rule of President Hosni Mubarak have given way in some parts of Cairo to looting.

The United States and Turkey offered to evacuate citizens wanting to leave and major airlines including Lufthansa and Air India said they would send additional planes to Cairo and Alexandria.

The Greek foreign ministry said at least two Greek military aircraft were on standby.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki dispatched his presidential plane to Egypt to pick up Iraqi citizens, and the transport ministry ordered free transportation for Iraqis living in Egypt on Iraqi Airways planes, a ministry spokesman said.

Some European companies started evacuating their staff, and witnesses reported scenes of chaos at Cairo Airport, as people, including Egyptians, tried to catch a decreasing number of operational flights.

U.S.-based Delta Air Lines Inc, for instance, said on Friday it was suspending its service into Cairo indefinitely.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice Jacobs said on CNN television that U.S.-government sponsored flights will be leaving Cairo on Monday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The United States and Turkey offered on Sunday to evacuate citizens wanting to leave Egypt, where violent protests against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak have given way in some parts of Cairo to looting.

Major airlines including Lufthansa and Air India said they would dispatch additional planes to Cairo and Alexandria, and the Greek foreign ministry said at least two Greek military aircraft were on standby to bring home citizens.

“The Foreign Office is in close touch with German airlines and has asked them to check how much additional capacity can be provided for flights to Cairo,” the German Federal Foreign Office said in an advisory on its website.

Witnesses said some businesses were starting to evacuate their staff and reported scenes of chaos at the airport, where many people, including Egyptians, were trying to fly out.

Some countries advised their citizens to leave Egypt or avoid traveling there if possible, although Russian and German tourists at Red Sea resorts made no move to cut short their holidays.

The Philippines foreign ministry readied a 25 million pesos ($567,000) standby emergency fund for the evacuation of around 6,600 Filipinos from Egypt if necessary.

Britain hardened its advice to Britons, advising them to leave Cairo, Suez and Alexandria “where it is safe to do so,” and the U.S. State Department moved to reduce diplomatic staff in Egypt.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European tour operators and airlines canceled trips to Cairo as angry protesters took to the streets, dealing a blow to a tourism industry that provides about one in eight jobs in the country.

Mass protests have raged in Egyptian cities in the past five days against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, and at least 74 people have been killed. Police and the army have turned out in force to quell the demonstrations.

Television footage of tanks on city streets, burning buildings and running battles between police and protesters will slash tourism levels, although it may only be short-term.

When gunmen killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians at an ancient temple in Luxor in 1997, tourism slumped but picked up fairly quickly and since then has weathered disruptions relatively well.

The September 11, 2001 attacks, the second Palestinian Intifada, and a series of bomb attacks on tourist resorts in Sinai from 2004 to 2006 all led to temporary decreases in tourist arrivals, but the trend over the last decade has been broadly upward.

In 2009 about 12.5 million tourists visited Egypt, bringing revenue of $10.8 billion. The tourism sector is one of the top sources of foreign revenue, accounting for more than 11 percent of GDP, and offers jobs in a country beset by high unemployment.

Some governments advised their citizens against traveling to Egypt unless they had to, and the Egyptian government has imposed a curfew, prompting airlines including Germany’s Lufthansa to cancel flights to Cairo on Saturday.