FRANKFURT: The German car maker Daimler posted on Thursday a six percent increase in second-quarter sales to 25.4 billion euros (40 billion US dollars) but warned that its would not meet a full-year operating profit forecast.

Second-quarter net profit fell by one-quarter to 1.395 billion euros from 1.849 billion in the same period last year, a company statement said.

The company lowered its forecast for full-year operating profit to "more than seven billion euros" from a previous outlook slightly above the 2007 figure of 7.7 billion euros.

Sales should nonetheless increase slightly, the company said, but foreign exchange effects and the rising costs of raw materials would probably prevent that from translating into higher profits.

"Strong unit sales and further efficiency improvements in all of our divisions led to very good results in a difficult environment," the statement quoted Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche as saying in reference to the results.

Investors were not impressed however, and shares in the auto maker fell by 5.85 percent to 40.07 euros on the Frankfurt stock exchange in mid-day trading.

The Dax index of leading shares had lost 0.88 per cent overall. - AFP/de