DaimlerChrysler Posts Smaller Profit

DaimlerChrysler ended 2002 with the smallest quarterly profit of the year as it took charges to reorganize its European truck and bus divisions.

Net income in the fourth quarter was $182.7 million, compared with a net loss of $42.4 million a year earlier.

Sales at the German firm fell 7.3% to $40.2 billion.

Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp has closed six factories and cut 26,000 jobs at the U.S. Chrysler automaking division as sales of Dodge minivans and Jeep Grand Cherokees declined.

A smaller-than-forecast decline in U.S. car-industry sales last year also helped profit growth at Chrysler.

DaimlerChrsyler fell 88 cents to close at $30.61 on the New York Stock Exchange.