Volkswagen Raises Dividend, Worries About Global Economy

Cars and Drivers

Published: March 12, 2015 9:10 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 9:22 am

Volkswagen reported Thursday morning that unit sales in 2014 rose 5%, from 9.73 million vehicles to 10.22 million. Operating profit rose 8.8% and after-tax profit rose 21%. Revenues rose 2.8%, from €197 billion to €202.46 billion.

The company said that it will propose a 20% increase in its dividend at its annual meeting in May, from €4.0 to €4.8 per share. Competitor BMW said Thursday morning that it will raise its dividend from €2.6 to €2.9 per share. BMW plans to publish its 2014 annual report next week.

VW’s North American sales were essentially flat at 893,000 units, compared with 891,000 in 2013. South American sales fell nearly 20% to 795,000 units, sales in China rose 11.3% to 4.06 million units, and sales in Europe and other markets rose 4.5% to 4.39 million units.

The not-so-good news is that the company’s Volkswagen brand saw sales dip from 4.7 million units worldwide to 4.58 million, with revenue remaining flat at €99.76 billion and operating profit falling to €2.48 billion.

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The company’s Audi division posted unit sales of 1.44 million units, up from 1.35 million units in 2013, and the Czech-made Skoda posted a sales rise to 796,000 units from 719,000. Porsche sales also rose, from 155,000 units in 2013 to 187,000. Not including sales made with its Chinese joint venture partners, VW China unit sales rose from 3.04 million units to 3.51 million.

For 2015, VW expects an operating return on sales in the range of 5.5% to 6.5%, down from the 2014 pretax return of 7.3%. The company attributes the lower return to “the challenging economic environment.” The company’s chairman said:

We are being deliberately rather more cautious — despite excellent figures we always have a good grip on reality. … Our stated goal for fiscal year 2015 is to achieve further growth both in terms of volumes and in our sales revenue and operating profit.

That growth may skip North America, where VW has been unable to turnaround its rather dismal performance. 2015 does not shape up to change that.

VW’s three joint ventures in China are reported in consolidated earnings in the company’s equity holdings and do not show up in the VW brand’s operating results. After-tax profit in these joint ventures totaled €3.99 billion in 2014, up from €3.60 billion in 2013. The company expects to boost its capacity in China to 5 million vehicles by 2019.

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