Volkswagen profits hit record, eyes even more

Volkswagen’s record year results beat expectations, showing Europe’s largest carmaker has enough financial firepower to complete its planned takeover of Porsche.
"Fiscal year 2010 was the best year in the history of the group. Volkswagen already provided impressive proof of its robustness during the crisis and our group is now following that up by leading the field during the economic recovery,” chief executive Martin Winterkorn said yesterday.
Credit Suisse analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said the results "made Volkswagen stand out from the crowd of global carmakers”, after lacklustre earnings from Daimler as well as VW’s lower-margin French peers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen.
Volkswagen also forecast another year of record vehicle sales, revenue and operating profit for 2011 as it proposed raising the 2010 annual dividend by just over a third to €2.26 per preferred share.
Volkswagen’s operating profit, which strips out earnings from its two Chinese joint ventures, climbed to €7.14bn ($9.87bn) last year, beating the average forecast of €6.75bn given by analysts in a Reuters poll. VW’s automotive net cash swelled to €18.6bn, enough to buy the remainder of Porsche’s sports cars business and independently-owned Porsche Holding Salzburg, while still maintaining its minimum target of a €5bn cash cushion.
After racking up blistering third-quarter results, Volkswagen said in October that its performance would not continue at that same pace during the fourth quarter.