Volkswagen retains growth guidance despite Q1 weakness

(Sharecast News) - Volkswagen's share price was in reverse on Tuesday after the German automaker reported a slow start to the year, though the company expressed its confidence in hitting full-year targets with the release of more than 30 new models.

Sales revenues were down 1% year-on-year in the first quarter at €75.5bn, with unit sales dropping 2% to 2.1m.

The company said the performance was "muted as expected", blaming an unfavourable country, brand and model mix.

Sales in Asia-Pacific gained 2% while South America saw 19% growth; but sales in Europe/rest of world and North America dropped 5% and 10%, respectively.

Meanwhile, an increase in fixed costs compared to the same period last year meant operating profits declined by 20% to €4.6bn, which included a negative valuation effect of €0.4bn.

Looking ahead, the company said its order book remains stable at a high level at 1.1m, 160,000 of which are battery electric vehicles which have seen order intakes nearly doubling on last year.

"As expected, our first-quarter results show a slow start to the year," said chief financial officer chief operating officer Arno Antlitz.

"We remain confident of achieving our financial targets for 2024. A strong March, the solid order bank and the improving order intake in the past months are encouraging and should already have a positive impact in the second quarter. We expect additional momentum over the course of the year from the launch of more than 30 new models across all brands."

For the full year, VW said it still expects to increase group sales by "up to 5%" at an operating profit margin of 7.0-7.5%.

The stock was down 2.3% at €118 by 1223 in Frankfurt.