- Second-quarter adjusted operating income down 28% to €4.7 billion
- Q2 revenue up 3.3%
- Audi and Porsche boosted profits as the Volkswagen brand dwindled
- Porsche IPO on course, decision in late summer – CFO
BERLIN, July 28 (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said it expects to hit the high end of its operating margin target of 7% to 8.5% for the year on Thursday amid supply chain bottlenecks on items from from wire harnesses to chips, and confirmed plans to list its Porsche brand that year.
The automaker, which saw deliveries fall by a fifth in the first half, was still expecting a 5% to 10% increase this year overall, but probably at the lower end of that range, CFO Arno Antlitz said.
Volkswagen shares rose 2% in early Frankfurt trading after second-quarter results as the automaker said it was confident that production would increase in the second half.
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Antlitz also said work on a listing for luxury sports brand Porsche is continuing “with more vigor than before” after last Friday’s leadership change at the carmaker raised questions about the plans. Continue reading
As production issues hampered production in volume segments, premium brands bolstered the automaker’s finances in the first half, with Audi posting a 51% rise in operating profit and Porsche up 22%, while the Volkswagen brand saw it fall 8%.
A decline in second-quarter operating profit to 4.7 billion euros ($4.81 billion) before special items still beat seven analysts polled by Refinitiv expecting 4.6 billion euros.
Volkswagen reported an unusually high operating profit of 8.5 billion euros in the first quarter, but said this was largely due to positive effects from commodity hedges and was non-cash.
On the other hand, the result for the second quarter included around 2.4 billion euros in losses from derivatives, mainly due to commodity hedging, the carmaker said. “Before these book value losses, the underlying performance has actually improved from a good first quarter of 2022,” he added.
Still, monthly production volumes across the group improved significantly towards the end of the second quarter, particularly as coronavirus restrictions were lifted in China.
As of September 1, Antlitz will take on the role of Chief Operating Officer at Volkswagen alongside his position as CFO, when a top management change announced last Friday comes into effect. CEO Herbert Diess will also be replaced by Porsche boss Oliver Blume. Continue reading
($1 = 0.9781 euros)
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Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Edited by Rachel More, Miranda Murray, Jon Boyle, Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski
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