Satisfaction for Oliver Blume, CEO of the Volkswagen Group and for the top management, for the 2023 financial results that were announced today.
In fact, all brands recorded not only a strong growth in sales, but also globally showed an increase in operating profit before extraordinary items, adjusted for the effects of commodity hedging, i.e. the coverage of raw materials.
The operating return on sales of the Core Brand Companies (Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Škoda, Seat Cupra) rose to 5.3% against 3.6% in 2022, mainly thanks to the strong increase in turnover (which rose by 21% to 137.8 billion euros).
With this operating profit, the group defined as Brand Core has taken a first, important step towards its strategic target of 8%.
Also good for the Brand Progressive brands (Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati) whose turnover in 2023 rose to 69.9 billion euros (+13%).
However, operating profit fell to 6.3 billion.
Gross of valuation effects, in particular deriving from commodity hedging operations, operating profit improved, reaching 7.7 billion.
The operating return on sales stood at 9.0% (it had been 12.3%).
Adjusted for valuation effects - equal to -1.4 billion - it rose to 11.0% (in 2022 it had been 10.6%).
In the case of the brands of the Sport Luxury group (practically only Porsche) the successful path continued in 2023 with turnover rising to 37.3 billion (34.6 in 2022).
Operating return on sales remained at the previous year's level of 18.6%, despite headwinds from increased costs for product launches and increased manufacturing costs.
Finally, the Trucks group (which groups the MAN, Scania, Navistar and Volkswagen Truck & Bus brands into the Traton family) increased its turnover to 45.7 billion (39.5 in 2022) thanks to the increase in volumes, but also to a positive mix of markets and products, improved unit prices and growth in the vehicle services business.
The operating margin more than doubled, rising to 8.1% (against 4% in 2022), with an operating profit of 3.7 billion (1.6 billion).
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