Skoda downplays poor first six months

• ŠKODA sells 464,600 cars worldwide Jan-June
• Sales revenue in the first half of 2013 of nearly €5 billion
• Operating profit reaches €243 million
• Investments increase by 22.1% to €265 million
• Record first six months for ŠKODA UK with more than 32,000 registrations

ŠKODA dedicated the first half of the year to the model offensive, including launching the new ŠKODA Octavia and ŠKODA Superb facelift. Despite the new start of production and correspondingly low production volumes, ŠKODA achieved a sales revenue of almost five billion Euros in the first six months of the current fiscal year. Operating profit stood at 243 million Euros as of 30th June. 464,600 vehicles were sold, 5.8% down on the first half of 2012. Additionally, the weak development in some European automotive markets affected the company’s sales and financial figures.

“The ŠKODA growth offensive moves into the next stage with the new ŠKODA Octavia and the facelifted Superb,” explains ŠKODA CEO Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland. He continues, “With a total of eight new or facelifted models this year, we are on the right track. On the year as a whole, we are expecting once again to surpass the previous year’s sales figures.” The sales figures in June were slightly higher than in the same month in 2012, making June 2013 the best sales June in the company’s history. “We do however still expect some further market uncertainty,” says Vahland.

The Czech car manufacturer’s sales revenue in the first half of 2013 stood at 4.97 billion Euros, 13.1% down on the same six months of 2012 (5.72 billion Euros). The operating profit reached 243 million Euros in the same period, 45.9% down compared to Jan-June of last year (449 million Euros). As a part of the current ŠKODA model offensive, investments rose by 22.1% on the same period last year to 265 million Euros (first half of 2012: 217 million Euros).

“ŠKODA has achieved solid results in the first half of 2013, especially in the challenging European environment,” says ŠKODA CFO Winfried Krause. He continues, “In the second half of the year, we plan to expand through the new models. We have also initiated stringent cost control measures in all areas.”

In the UK, ŠKODA enjoyed the most successful six months in its history with more than 32,000 registrations. ŠKODA UK Brand Director, Alasdair Stewart, comments on the record, “These figures show how strong ŠKODA is in the UK. It is a testament to the engineering excellence of our products and the recognised customer service from our retailer network. We’re delighted with these figures and we aim to continue the feat in the second half of 2013. The ŠKODA range keeps on growing, we have some very exciting product launches coming soon and we can’t wait to show them to our customers.”