Volkswagen lifted its profit guidance for this year after posting forecast-beating group earnings in the third quarter, benefiting from cost cuts at its core autos division.

Quarterly group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) before special items jumped 15 percent to 4.31 billion euros ($5.01 billion) from 3.75 billion a year ago, Volkswagen (VW) said on Friday.

That beat even the highest estimate of 4.17 billion euros in a Reuters poll of banks and brokerages.

The Wolfsburg-based company said it now expected the group’s operating margin to moderately exceed a target corridor of between 6.0 and 7.0 percent, having previously guided for the margin to hit that range.

Group revenue may exceed last year’s 217.3 billion euros by more than 4 percent, VW said, keeping its previous guidance. Nine-month revenue was up 6.8 percent to 170.9 billion euros.

Source: cnbc
VW lifts profit outlook after forecast-beating third-quarter earnings rise