In the first six months of this year, the German automobile concern Volkswagen recovered from a loss – it had an operating profit of approximately 11 billion euros (283.6 billion crowns). Preliminary data published by the company today show this.
The company, of which Mladá Boleslav’s Škoda Auto is a part, had an operating loss of 1.49 billion euros in the same period last year. The company said it benefited from a strong recovery in demand following the slump caused by the pandemic. Volkswagen shares responded to the news with growth of about five percent.
The announcement came surprisingly today – the presentation of the results for the second quarter is not planned until July 29. Operating profit for the first half of the year is significantly better than analysts estimated and at the same time better than before the outbreak of the pandemic. In the same period in 2019 it amounted to about nine billion euros.
Volkswagen achieved the result mainly due to the demand for premium Audi and Porsche cars and thanks to the work of the financial services department, the company said. The Chinese market was a bit weaker in the first part of the year, she added.
Like the competition, Europe’s largest carmaker has been hit by a shortage of key semiconductors. The company said that the lack of these components in the second half of the year will have an even more fundamental impact.
According to preliminary data, net income from car sales should reach approximately ten billion euros in the first six months. In 2019 it was 5.57 billion and last year a negative 4.8 billion euros.