Of the Volkswagen-Group has left the Corona low behind for the time being and also closed the difficult year 2020 with a billion-dollar profit. After the considerable slump due to stagnant sales, plant closings and damaged supply chains in the second quarter, the Wolfsburg-based company managed to turn the meanwhile red numbers into positive territory. In the end, Europe’s largest automaker earned 8.8 billion euros after taxes, as the key data presented on Friday shows.
The operating result before special items such as legal costs to deal with the diesel crisis landed at 10.6 billion euros. The turnover amounted to 222.9 billion euros, the deliveries reached the mark of 9.3 million vehicles. At the end of the year sales had increased again, especially at Electrical and hybrid cars. Compared to 2019, however, the total numbers mean significant declines for the group. In the year before the pandemic, the VW Group had post-tax earnings of 14 billion euros and sales of over a quarter of a trillion (252.6 billion) euros. With almost 11 million deliveries, it also had the global top position Toyota held – this was reversed in 2020. In day-to-day business, the result was almost twice as high in the previous year (19.3 billion euros).
Business in China creates strength
Surprisingly, the group does not want to cut back on the distribution to shareholders. The dividend for the past year should amount to 4.86 euros per preferred share. That is just as much as last year and the year before. According to the Articles of Association, ordinary shareholders receive 6 cents less per share than preference shareholders. In return, however, the advantages have no voting rights. The holding company controls more than half of the common shares Porsche SE for the owner families Porsche and Piëch. 20 percent of the shares belong to the state of Lower Saxony, a state fund from Qatar owns a further 17 percent.
The Volkswagen preference shares turned positive on Friday afternoon and recently gained 1.3 percent to 173.34 euros. This pushed them below the top values in the ailing Dax. Analyst Frank Schwope from NordLB praised the annual figures. “Volkswagen fared significantly better than many competitors in Corona year 2020 and, given the circumstances, still achieved a strong operating result.” The operational business of the Volkswagen Group was mainly supported by both in the past year and in January 2021 China.
With a view to the coming months, VW remains cautious because of the uncertain corona situation. One could go further – “subject to a successful containment of the Covid-19 pandemic”. CFO Frank Witter also emphasized: “We want to take the strong momentum from the significantly better second half of the year with us into the current year.”