Audi sold 20 percent fewer cars in the first half of the year, but significantly increased its operating profit compared to the previous year. The operating result climbed in the first six months by almost 60 percent to 4.9 billion euros and would thus have reached a new record, explains CFO Jürgen Rittersberger. Profit drivers were the strong performance of the luxury brands Bentley and Lamborghini, which belong to the brand group, as well as the high car prices.
Since demand is much higher than supply, many major automakers could charge higher prices to customers and thus currently make high profits despite higher costs. The Volkswagen subsidiary Audi delivered 798,000 cars in the first half of the year (second half of 2021: 699,000). Sales rose 2 percent to 29.9 billion euros and operating profit jumped to 4.9 billion euros. Raw material hedging transactions still contributed 400 million to the result – far less than in the first quarter because raw material prices had normalized significantly, said Rittersberger. The bottom line was a profit of 4.4 billion euros after taxes. For the year as a whole, the Executive Board expects a slight increase in sales to 1.8 to 1.9 million vehicles and a strong increase in sales to 62 to 65 billion euros.
The return on sales climbed by almost six percentage points to 16.5 percent and was thus well above the long-term target corridor. In China, there should be catch-up effects after the corona lockdowns, said Rittersberger. But due to recurring bottlenecks in the supply of semiconductors, Audi has applied for short-time work as a precaution for the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants. And “material costs are increasing, especially for the batteries,” said the chief financial officer. In addition, several special effects are to be eliminated in the second half of the year, which is why Audi expects a weakening. Among these, Rittersberger counts declining special effects from securing raw materials and residual values of used vehicles and increasing research and development costs in China. Audi posts the income from the Chinese plants in the financial result and not in the operating result.
Audi is therefore forecasting a return on sales of between nine and eleven percent for the year as a whole. “We have already processed the foreseeable consequences of the Ukraine war, the ongoing semiconductor crisis and the Covid lockdowns in China,” said CFO Jürgen Rittersberger. Book gains from hedging commodity deals should decrease as prices have normalized.