Volkswagen Raises Target for Return on Sales After Swing to 2Q Profit

By Kim Richters

Volkswagen AG on Thursday updated its guidance for 2021 after swinging to profit in the second quarter and reporting a jump in revenue.

The German car maker said quarterly aftertax profit came in at 5.04 billion euros ($5.97 billion), compared with a loss of EUR1.54 billion the same period year-prior.

Revenue rose to EUR67.29 billion from EUR41.08 billion. It had already released first-half preliminary figures earlier this month.

Volkswagen said results were particularly driven by its premium brands Audi and Porsche, and its division Volkswagen Financial Services.

"We have successfully contained the impacts of the semiconductor bottlenecks to date, although we anticipate somewhat more pronounced effects in the third quarter," said Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz.

The car maker adjusted its full-year guidance. For 2021, Volkswagen expects an operating return on sales between 6.0% and 7.5% compared with previous guidance range of 5.5% to 7.0%.

Full-year deliveries are now expected noticeably up on the prior year compared with previous significant higher expectations. Revenue is still seen significantly higher than in 2020.

Write to Kim Richters at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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