Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest car maker, said Wednesday that its first-quarter net profit more than doubled as sales showed solid gains worldwide.
The Wolfsburg-based company said it earned €740 million (US$1 billion) in the January-March period, compared with €327 million a year earlier. Sales rose 5.1 percent to €26.6 billion (US$36.1 billion) from €25.3 billion.
Operating earnings, which analysts use as yardstick to gauge a company's health, rose 81 percent to €1.08 billion (US$1.5 billion) from €599 million.
The company has spent nearly two years cutting some 20,000 jobs from its German work force as it strives to become more nimble in the face of rising competition from European and Asian rivals.
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