FRANKFURT, May 2 (Xinhua) -- German automaker Volkswagen said Thursday in a report that its group sales revenue increased in the first quarter, although it has set aside more cash to cover its diesel cheating scandal.
According to the report, Volkswagen's group sales revenue rose 3.1 percent year-on-year to 60 billion euros (about 67 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of the current fiscal year.
The rise, which occurred despite the decline in volumes of deliveries to customers, was mainly the result of mix improvements and healthy business performance in the Financial Services Division, said the report.
The operating return on sales before special items rose to 8.1 percent, compared to 7.2 percent in the same period last year. The figure exceeds the company's targeted margin range of 6.5 to 7.5 percent.
"The sales revenue performance and earnings growth in the first three months of the current fiscal year are encouraging," said Frank Witter, the company's chief financial officer. "But we have to continue to pick up the pace when it comes to our transformation."
Volkswagen set aside further 1 billion euros (about 1.12 billion dollars) for "legal risks" to cover costs linked to its 2015 diesel scandal.
The automaker admitted manipulating exhaust system testing results in more than 10 million vehicles as early as September 2015 to make its cars seem less polluting. Volkswagen has already paid fines of 29 billion euros (about 32.5 billion dollars) for the scandal. Enditem
