Volkswagen sales and profit hit new records but cautious on 2015

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker, said Friday it notched up record sales and earnings in 2014 but was cautious for 2015 in face of the emerging market weakness and currency fluctuations.
VW said in a statement its bottom-line net profit jumped by 19.6 percent to 10.85 billion euros ($12.2 billion) in 2014.
Underlying or operating profit was up 8.8 percent at 12.70 billion euros and revenues climbed by 2.8 percent to 202.5 billion euros.
VW delivered a total 10.14 million vehicles to customers worldwide, an increase of 4.2 percent.
"We can look back on the past fiscal year with satisfaction: despite the difficult economic environment, we achieved our goals for 2014," said chief executive Martin Winterkorn.
In light of the "successful" year, the management board would propose increasing the dividend to shareholders -- to 4.80 euros per ordinary share and 4.86 euros per preferred share, the carmaker said.
Looking ahead, however, VW said it was more cautious.
"Given the subdued growth prospects in regions outside China, there is no guarantee that 2015 will be a successful year, either for the industry or for the Volkswagen group," said chief financial officer Hans Dieter Poetsch.
"Continuing political uncertainty, strong currency fluctuations and tough environments in markets such as Russia and Brazil present major challenges for the Volkswagen group this year as well. In light of this, the scenarios underlying our forecast are based on conservative assumptions," Poetsch said.
"Nevertheless, our goal is not only to increase our volumes, but also to lift sales revenue and earnings again", he said.
VW said it expects deliveries to increase "moderately" in the whole of 2015 and, depending on economic conditions, sales revenue to increase by up to 4.0 percent year-on-year.