Volkswagen Reports Earnings Increase

Volkswagen’s profit rose 24% in the second quarter as cost savings outweighed a drop in sales. But Europe’s biggest car maker lowered its full-year forecast on worries about economic growth in the United States and Europe.

Net profit rose to 776 million euros from 624 million euros in the year-earlier period, beating analysts’ expectations. Volkswagen shares rose 3% in Frankfurt.

Pretax profit--the yardstick the company and many analysts use--came in at 1.27 billion euros for the quarter. Analysts’ predictions had been around 1 billion or less.

Still, Volkswagen cut its forecast for the entire year to roughly 4 billion euros in pretax profit, down from its earlier target of matching last year’s figure of 4.41 billion euros.