Shares in the carmaker turned negative after the results and were down 2.2 percent at 11.3 euros by 1:39 p.m. Traders said the reaction was mainly due to investors cashing in gains after the stock had risen quite significantly in recent days.

The world's seventh-largest carmaker, which moved its primary listing to New York in October and is due to spin off luxury unit Ferrari later this year, reported core 2014 operating profit of 3.65 billion euros (3 billion pounds).

This falls within a guidance range of between 3.6-4.0 billion euros and is above an analyst forecast of 3.4 billion euros, according to Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate.

Revenues rose 11 percent to 96.1 billion euros, while net debt at the end of last year rose to 7.7 billion euros, up from 7 billion at end-2013.

In 2015, FCA forecast core operating profit of between 4.1-4.5 billion euros, while revenues are seen rising to around 108 billion euros. Global shipments are expected to increase to around 4.8-5.0 million vehicles, up from 4.6 million last year.

This year FCA is expected to increase spending as it pushes ahead with a 48 billion euros expansion plan meant to boost the carmaker's global sales by 60 percent to 7 million cars between 2014-18 and increase net profit fivefold.

The carmaker has begun turning the corner in Europe and may even break even in the region at an operating level this year as a focus on premium vehicles for export starts to pay off. In 2014, FCA trimmed its operating losses in Europe to 109 million euros from 506 million the previous year.

Along with other mass market producers, FCA was hit by a six-year slump in European car sales, from which the region is only slowly recovering. It has forced FCA to increasingly rely on its U.S. operations for profit. The North American business contributed just over half of FCA's operating profit and 55 percent of revenues last year.

FCA shares have risen more than 60 percent last year, lifted by Fiat's buyout of Chrysler, the merged firm's move to Wall Street and its announcement of the Ferrari spin-off. The stock hit a high of over 12 euros this week on expectation that the strong dollar would become a major boost for the company in coming months.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak, Stefano Rebaudo and Bernie Woodall; editing by Keith Weir)