Volkswagen Q2 earnings jump on China show

BERLIN: Sales at Volkswagen motored ahead in the second quarter thanks in part to strong demand from China, pushing the automaker’s earnings sharply higher to 1.25 billion euro ($1.6 billion), the company said Thursday. The company, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, had earnings of 283 million euro in last year’s April-June period.

Revenue was up 21.9%, rising to 33.16 billion euro from 27.2 billion euro. Volkswagen sold 12.6% more cars, rising to 1.86 million from 1.66 million. Volkswagen cautioned that “the dynamic growth in ... revenue and earnings in the first half of 2010 will not continue undiminished in the second half.”

However, it said it still expects revenue and operating profit to be “significantly higher” this year than in 2009.

Volkswagen’s net earnings for the January-June period totaled 1.67 billion euro, up from 547 million euro a year earlier. First-half revenue was up 20.7% to 61.81 billion euro from last year’s 51.2 billion euro.