Audi Group has reported an increase of 11.7% in sales to 412,846 and 10.4% growth in revenue to €12,951m for the first three months of 2014.
The Audi Group is again on track for success in the new fiscal year: With over 412,000 deliveries of the Audi brand, the company has enjoyed its best first quarter ever. In the first three months of the current fiscal year, the Ingolstadt carmaker generated revenue of € 12,951 million and an operating profit of € 1,314 million. The operating return on sales reached 10.1 percent.
Audi made clear progress in all regions worldwide in the first quarter of 2014. The carmaker from Ingolstadt increased deliveries of the Audi brand by 11.7 percent to 412,846 (2013: 369,494) units. This led to an increase in revenue to € 12,951 (2013: 11,734) million for the Audi Group - a rise of 10.4 percent. The operating profit for the Audi Group reached € 1,314 (2013: 1,307) million.
"Despite high up-front spending on new products and technologies and the expansion of our international production network, we have generated an operating profit of € 1,314 million in the first quarter," declared Axel Strotbek, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Finance and Organization. He explained that the operating return on sales of 10.1 (2013: 11.1) percent is again just above the strategic target corridor of eight to ten percent, supplying further evidence of the company's high profitability.
In preparation for further growth, Audi intends to take on around 2,000 experts this year in Germany alone. The new employees will be recruited mainly for the lightweight construction, connectivity and electric mobility fields of expertise, or be involved in the expansion of the international production network. In addition, the company will be offering apprenticeships to around 750 young people in 2014.
Audi is moreover planning for growth in 2014 as a whole. The brand with the four rings will be introducing 17 new models and derivative versions into the market this year: The S3 Sedan and the A3 Cabriolet* are already in the showrooms. The new Audi A3 Sportback g-tron and the fuel Audi e-gas mean customers can already drive in a largely CO2-neutral way. At the Geneva Motor Show in early March, the company also gave the S1 and S1 Sportback models their first public showing. In addition, the third generation of the sporty design icon Audi TT* enjoyed its world premiere at Geneva. The Audi TT will provide an extra boost to growth in the current fiscal year.
For 2014 overall, the Audi Group expects to see a slight increase in revenue to more than € 50 billion. The systematic expansion of international manufacturing structures, rising up-front spending on new products and technologies as well as mix effects will initially diminish profit in the current fiscal year. At the same time, the positive trend in deliveries and revenue along with ongoing productivity and process improvements will impact operating profit positively. Overall, the company expects the operating return on sales to lie within its strategic target corridor of eight to ten percent.
