General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen are locked in a fight for Global dominance. So far GM is winning as the world's largest automaker in 2011.
The Volkswagen Group reported record vehicle sales, revenue and earnings for 2011 today in Wolfsburg. The VW Group sold more than 8 million vehicles for the first time with global share of the passenger car market rising from 11.3% to 12.3%. The Group’s global market share has risen by 2.7 percentage points since 2007 and its return on sales before tax has climbed from 6% in 2007 to 11.9% last year. As a result, sales revenue increased by 25.6% in the past fiscal year to €159.3 billion (previous year: €126.9 billion).
Consolidated operating profit rose to a record €11.3 billion, an improvement of €4.1 billion compared with 2010. This does not include the Group’s €2.6 billion (€1.9 billion) share of the operating profit of its communist-government-required Chinese joint ventures. These companies are accounted for in the financial results, which rose by €5.8 billion to €7.7 billion last year. Operating margin improved from 5.6% to 7.1%.
The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board are proposing to the Annual General Meeting on 19 April 2012 to increase the dividend per ordinary share to €3.00 (€2.20) and the dividend per preferred share to €3.06 (€2.26).
Return on investment in the Automotive Division was particularly strong last year at 17.7% (13.5%), which is above the VW’s own 9% minimum required rate of return. The Financial Services Division improved its return on equity from 12.9% to 14.0%.
“Our Strategy 2018 is working. We remain on track on our way to the top of the automotive industry,” said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, on Monday during the presentation of the Company’s 2011 financial results.
Part of the success was due to the acquisition of Porsche Holding Salzburg, the increase in the stake in MAN SE and the equity investment in SGL Carbon SE, totaling some €7 billion, as well as the increase in investments in property, plant and equipment to around €8 billion.
The ratio of investments in property, plant and equipment (CAPEX) to sales revenue rose only slightly by 0.6 percentage points to 5.6%. In addition to production facilities, Volkswagen invested mainly in expanding its model range and modularizing its vehicle concepts.
( See Volkswagen Group February Sales Up 15%, Europe Weak at 1%, European Auto Sales down in 2011 for Fourth Straight Year )
