Financial News

The TRATON GROUP recorded increasing unit sales in the third quarter of 2024 in a normalizing market environment. According to preliminary data, a total of 85,300 vehicles were delivered across the TRATON brands in the third quarter of 2024, up 5% on the prior-year quarter. In the first nine months of the year, unit sales amounted to 245,400 vehicles, equivalent to a decline of 2%.

During its Capital Markets Day 2024 in Munich, the TRATON GROUP outlined its ambitions for its medium-term business development. The adjusted operating return on sales is expected to be between 9 and 11% in 2029. The corresponding outlook for the current fiscal year 2024 is between 8 and 9%. The TRATON GROUP plans to grow its sales revenue by 20 to 40% over the period 2024 to 2029. Moreover, TRATON aims to fully repay the net financial debt of the industrial business within this time frame.

In a year shaped by a persistently weak economic environment, more intense competition and political challenges, the Brand Group Core continues to focus on successful model ramp-ups and execution of the performance programs in the various brands. The Brand Group plans to boost profitability in the second half of the year through a clear focus on strict cost efficiency and the realization of synergies generated by cooperation, as well as through growth.

Outlook for 2024 Confirmed. The Volkswagen Group expects the sales revenue to exceed the previous year’s figure by up to 5% in 2024. The operating return on sales for the Volkswagen Group and the Passenger Cars Business Area is likely to be between 6.5% and 7%.

With the market environment continuing to normalize, the TRATON GROUP also recorded slightly declining unit sales in the second quarter of 2024. According to preliminary data, a total of 78,960 vehicles were delivered across all brands in the second quarter of 2024, down 5% on the prior-year quarter. In the first half of the year, unit sales amounted to 160,108 vehicles, also equivalent to a decline of 5%.

In the year of product launches, Porsche maintains stable sales in the first half of 2024: a total of 155,945 vehicles were handed over to customers worldwide between January and June.

TRATON SE shareholders have approved all items on the agenda for this year’s Annual General Meeting by a large majority. One of the votes resolved on a dividend payout of €1.50 per share for fiscal year 2023, more than twice as high as last year’s figure of €0.70. In addition, the shareholders approved the actions of the members of the Executive and Supervisory Boards for fiscal year 2023 as well as the submitted remuneration report.

TRATON SE will be uplisted from the SDAX to the MDAX, which tracks the performance of the 50 largest companies following the DAX stocks on the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt stock exchange. According to the information provided by Deutsche Börse, TRATON’s admission to this key stock market index will be effective from June 24, 2024.

At the Annual General Meeting of Volkswagen AG, the shareholders followed the proposal of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board and resolved by a majority of 99,99 % to pay an increased dividend of EUR 9.00 per ordinary share and EUR 9.06 per preference share for the 2023 financial year. This corresponds to a payout ratio of 28 per cent and an increase of EUR 0.30 per share. Volkswagen AG is distributing a total of EUR 4.5 billion to its shareholders for the 2023 financial year.

The Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group has decided to make all-electric entry-level mobility more widespread. The Brand Group Core will bring affordable electric vehicles from Europe, for Europe, into the market. The world premiere is scheduled for 2027. Volkswagen has been working for some time to offer compact, particularly inexpensive electric vehicles in the price range of around 20,000 euros. In this way, the Group's volume brands are fulfilling their promise to create mobility for all and continue to facilitate the entry into e-mobility. With its brand diversity, the Volkswagen Group also assumes a social responsibility for affordable, sustainable mobility.

2024 will be a demanding year for the Audi Group. The challenging market environment and supply bottlenecks, especially for V6 and V8 engines, had a particularly negative impact on operating profit in the first quarter of the year. The company also has to manage numerous product ramp-ups. Revenue reached €13.7 billion in the first quarter of the year, while operating profit amounted to €466 million. The operating margin was 3.4 percent. In the first three months of the year, the Brand Group Progressive delivered 402,048 automobiles to customers – a decline of 4.7 percent. The demand for fully electric models, however, increased by 3 percent. Audi registered a significant increase of 13.7 percent in China, with 156,082 models delivered.

The Brand Group Core delivered robust financial results in the first quarter of 2024. With stable vehicle sales and slightly lower sales revenue, the Brand Group Core reported a significant year-on-year increase in operating profit and operating return. At 6.4%, operating return was well within the target corridor of 6-7% for 2024. All brands contributed to this achievement, reporting higher returns on the basis of focused cost management as well as increased implementation of synergy and efficiency measures within the Brand Group. The financial performance in the first quarter felt the impact of offsetting effects – these included, for example, the abrupt termination of government incentives for electric cars in the German market and the related discount measures at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, there was high depreciation attributable to investments in product campaigns and the related ramp-up of electric products.

Porsche AG has got off to a vigorous and forward-looking start to the challenging 2024 financial year. In this year of product launches, the sports car manufacturer is renewing four out of its six model lines. The first quarter was marked by the ramp-ups of the third model generation of the Panamera and the new Taycan. In addition, large-scale investments have been made in digitalization and research and development. Accordingly, the Porsche Group recorded an expected decline in sales and earnings in the first three months. At the end of the quarter, Group sales revenue amounted to 9.01 billion euros (previous year: 10.10 billion euros). Group operating profit was 1.28 billion euros (previous year: 1.84 billion euros). Group sales revenue came in at 14.2 per cent (previous year: 18.2 per cent).

The TRATON GROUP reported a successful start to 2024 and increased its sales revenue, adjusted operating result, and adjusted operating return on sales in the first quarter despite a slight decrease in unit sales. The TRATON GROUP brands sold a total of 81,100 (3M 2023: 84,600) vehicles between January and March, a slight year-on-year decline of 4%. At the same time, sales revenue grew 5% to €11.8 billion (3M 2023: €11.2 billion) thanks to a favorable product and market mix and improved unit price realization. Accounting for 19% (3M 2023: 20%) of total sales revenue, the vehicle services business made a considerable contribution to business performance. At 66,400 (3M 2023: 68,500) vehicles, the Company’s incoming orders in the first quarter of the year were solid and thus only slightly down by 3% year-on-year. The book-to-bill ratio, or the ratio of incoming orders to unit sales, was 0.8 in the first three months. This meant that unit sales were higher than incoming orders, allowing order backlog to continue to return to normal. At €1,106 million (3M 2023: €935 million), adjusted operating result was up significantly on the prior-year period. In light of the 5% increase in sales revenue, adjusted operating return on sales rose by 1 percentage point in the first quarter of 2024 to 9.4%.

Volkswagen launches the next phase of its transformation in China. At its China Capital Markets Day in Beijing, Volkswagen Group presented its strategy update for the Chinese market. The focus is on its target to strengthen tech capabilities and reduce costs in the strongly growing market. The Group plans to achieve cost parity with local competition in the compact car segment by 2026 and gain further momentum through a re-aligned strategy and an efficiency program that was launched already. In addition, the company underlined its commitment to its “in China, for China” strategy: It presented measures to cater even better to the needs of Chinese customers, accelerate model developments and time-to-market as well as significantly reduce costs. In addition, the aim is to better harness the innovative power of the market and increase local value creation through more in-house development capabilities and strong local partnerships. As a result, the Group aims to strengthen its position as the #1 international OEM in the Chinese market and has set ambitious targets until 2030: Approximately 4 million vehicles sold and growth in proportionate operating result to around EUR 3.0 billion, including the fully consolidated Anhui joint venture.

The Volkswagen Group increased its deliveries in the first quarter of 2024 by 3 percent to 2.10 million vehicles. The main growth drivers were China (+8 percent), South America (+14 percent) and North America (+5 percent). Vehicles with combustion engines increased by 4 percent to 1.97 million units, overcompensating the slight decline of 3 percent to 136,400 all-electric vehicles (BEV). In this segment, strong growth in China (+91 percent) did not fully offset the decline in Europe (-24 percent). However, incoming orders for BEVs in Western Europe developed positively from January to March. More than twice as many all-electric models were ordered as in the same period last year (+154 percent), so that the BEV order bank currently stands at around 160,000 vehicles.

The Audi Group has achieved a solid result in the 2023 fiscal year under challenging economic conditions. Revenue rose by 13.1 percent to €69.9 billion, the operating profit was €6.3 billion, and the operating margin was 9.0 percent. Net cash flow was nearly on par with the previous year at €4.7 billion. With numerous new models, Audi will significantly strengthen and expand its product portfolio in the coming years: The world premiere of the fully electric Audi Q6 e-tron, the first model on the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE), heralds a series of product launches. More than 20 new models are planned for 2024 and 2025.