<strong>Optimistic 2023 forecast drives Volkswagen shares up by 6% </strong>

By Moses Akaigwe

World’s second largest automaker, Volkswagen of Germany, has unveiled a hope-raising forecast for 2023, thereby activating an equally positive 6 percent rise in the company’s shares.

In the forecast released on Friday, Europe’s leading vehicle manufacturer predicts a strong sales recovery and a 14 percent rise in deliveries as global supply chain issues ease

Volkswagen said it expects supply chain issues to ease and sales to rise to as much as €331bn in 2023, sending shares in Europe’s top carmaker to their highest level in nearly three months.

The automaker’s outlook, which comes after preliminary 2022 results published last month, also foresees a strong recovery of vehicle deliveries to 9.5m, an increase of more than 14 percent year-on-year.

“Our performance last year demonstrated the improved resilience of the Volkswagen Group amid a challenging global backdrop,” Chief Financial Officer, Arno Antlitz said.

“We expect the supply chain bottlenecks to gradually ease in the current year, allowing us to service the high order backlog,” he said.

Following hot on the heels of the optimistic forecast which came ahead of schedule, and buoyed further by a robust performance in 2022, shares in the company rose 6 percent to the top of Frankfurt’s benchmark Dax index. 

Volkswagen’s revenues are forecast to grow by 10 percent to 15 percent, indicating 2023 sales of between €307bn to €331bn.

The group’s operating return on sales is expected to be in the range of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent, compared with 7.9 percent in 2022, Volkswagen said, adding its dividend would rise by €1.20 apiece to €8.70 per common share and €8.76 per preferred share for 2022.

According to Refinitiv estimates, holders of Volkswagen’s preferred shares were expected to get a dividend of €8.46 apiece.

This is good news to the teeming lovers of VW vehicles where the brand is represented by Stallion Motors Ltd, which has cautiously slowed down on the importation of stock due to the quality of the premium motor spirit available locally.