VW Forecasts Higher Sales, Earnings in 2017 -- Update
14 March 2017 - 10:01PM
Dow Jones News
By William Boston
WOLFSBURG, Germany--Volkswagen AG, struggling to shoulder the
costs of its emissions-cheating scandal, on Tuesday forecast higher
sales and earnings in 2017 as it detailed its return to profit last
year following its worst-ever loss in the wake of the diesel
crisis.
The German car maker faces a tough challenge convincing
investors that it is putting the diesel crisis behind it and is on
track to deliver strong earnings in the years ahead after racking
up more than $25 billion in fines, penalties and compensation in
the U.S. to settle criminal and civil litigation related to the
diesel scandal.
The company recently reported net profit of 5.14 billion euros
for last year, after a record loss of EUR1.6 billion for 2015.
Volkswagen generated revenue of EUR217.3 billion last year, an
increase of nearly 2%. The company sold 10.4 million vehicles in
2016, overtaking Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's largest auto
maker by sales.
"2016 did not turn out to be the nightmare year that many
predicted for Volkswagen," Chief Executive Matthias Muller told
reporters. "Even though much work lies ahead of us, Volkswagen is
back on track."
Volkswagen last week pleaded guilty to criminal charges for
rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emissions
tests, capping the final significant U.S. legal settlement expected
in a long-running deception that hammered the German auto company's
reputation and finances.
For the new year, Volkswagen forecast a 4% increase in sales
revenue, moderately higher vehicle sales, and a pretax return on
sales of between 6% and 7%.
The outlook for 2017 was neither as detailed nor as robust as
investors had hoped, causing Volkswagen's widely traded non-voting
preference shares to slip 0.9% to EUR142.85 in early trading on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Mr. Mueller, after taking the helm in September 2015, launched a
major restructuring of the company in a bid to put more
decision-making power in the hands of brand managers and regional
organizations and increase profits.
The biggest challenge has been restructuring the Volkswagen
namesake brand, the company's core passenger-car business. Efforts
to boost productivity and earnings have been bogged down in
internal power struggles between the brand's management and the
powerful IG Metall trade union, which controls half the seats on
Volkswagen's 20-member supervisory board.
VW-brand operating profit fell 11% to EUR1.9 billion last
year.
"In times where most other car companies are improving
efficiency and shaping the industry, VW needs to be very mindful
not to waste any more time with internal power struggles," said
Arndt Ellinghorst, auto analyst at Evercore ISI, a London-based
brokerage. "Volkswagen's shareholders, employees and customers
desperately need a success story."
Although the Volkswagen passenger-car business is the company's
biggest division, the lion's share of profits come from its luxury
brand Audi and sports-car maker Porsche.
Porsche remained robust in 2016, reporting a nearly 14% increase
in earnings to EUR3.9 billion.
But Audi is struggling. New car sales edged up slightly last
year, but earnings slipped nearly 6% to EUR4.85 billion.
Write to William Boston at William.Boston@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 14, 2017 06:46 ET (10:46 GMT)
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