BERLIN: Volkswagen posted a lower operating profit in the second quarter and stuck to its guidance as emerging market volatility weighed on the German carmaker's results.
Operating profit at Europe's largest automotive group dropped 3.1 percent to 3.33 billion euros ($4.5 billion), VW said on Thursday, matching the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Group sales eased 2.2 percent to 51 billion euros amid "significant negative exchange rate effects," VW said, adding: "The weak currencies of key emerging economies pushed prices up and thus put pressure on demand."
Wolfsburg-based VW reiterated previous guidance published in February, saying its operating margin could be between 5.5 and 6.5 percent, compared with 5.9 percent last year.
The 12-brand group has said deliveries will probably reach a seven-year-old target of 10 million vehicles four years early in 2014. Revenue may move within a range of 3 percent around last year's record 197 billion euros, VW said, reaffirming its February outlook.
Economic imbalances and currency slides in developing markets are hurting European automakers as demand in their home region revives after a six-year slump.
VW group sales including premium brand Audi and volume division Skoda have tumbled in double-digit terms this year in Brazil, Russia and India which, together with fast-growing China, accounted for about half of VW's 9.73 record 2013 deliveries.
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