HispanicBusiness

WOLFSBURG, GERMANY -- (Marketwire) -- 03/14/13 -- The Volkswagen Group successfully mastered the challenges posed by a difficult market environment in 2012, again posting record vehicle sales, sales revenue and earnings. "Volkswagen is feeling the headwinds -- especially in Europe. Nevertheless we remain guardedly confident," said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, on Thursday during the presentation of the Company's 2012 financial results.

The Volkswagen Group not only turned in a compelling operational performance in the past fiscal year -- it also met its targets for major strategic projects: The Porsche brand has been wholly owned by Volkswagen since August 1, 2012 and Ducati, a legendary motorcycle brand, has now joined the Group family. A leading mobility group needs a strong commercial vehicles business -- and the alliance between MAN, Scania and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles means that the groundwork for this has been laid. The launch of the Modular Transverse Toolkit in 2012 ushered in a new era in passenger cars. In addition, Volkswagen became the first carmaker to commit to the CO2 target of 95g/km by 2020.

CFO Hans Dieter Pötsch was also satisfied with 2012. "We continued our successful course and further strengthened our market position thanks to our high profitability," said Pötsch. "Our growing presence in all key markets, our outstanding brand portfolio, our attractive product range and our broad financial services offering combined with our sound finances and forward-looking management are contributing to the systematic implementation of our Strategy 2018."

Group figures for 2012

The Volkswagen Group's sales revenue increased by 20.9 percent in fiscal year 2012 to EUR 192.7 billion (previous year: EUR 159.3 billion). Consolidated operating profit rose slightly to a record EUR 11.5 billion (EUR 11.3 billion). The consolidated operating profit does not include the EUR 3.7 billion (EUR 2.6 billion) proportional share of the operating profit recorded by the Chinese joint ventures. These companies are included in the consolidated financial statements using the equity method and are therefore reflected in the Group's financial result, which rose by EUR 6.3 billion last year to EUR 14 billion. The improvement in the financial result is primarily attributable to noncash effects of EUR 12.3 billion from the final valuation of the put/call rights relating to Porsche as of July 31, 2012, as well as from the remeasurement of the existing shares of Porsche held at the contribution date. All in all, the Volkswagen Group's profit before tax last year rose by approximately EUR 6.6 billion to EUR 25.5 billion. Profit after tax amounted to EUR 21.9 billion (EUR 15.8 billion).

In view of the Company's continued success, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will be proposing to the Annual General Meeting on April 25, 2013 to increase the dividend to EUR 3.50 (EUR 3.00) per ordinary share and EUR 3.56 (EUR 3.06) per preferred share.