BERLIN, July 31 (Reuters) - German automaker Volkswagen expects operating profit in the second half of 2013 to be on a par with results seen in the first half of the year, finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch said.
"It remains quite a challenge to produce the same result as in the first half", Poetsch said on Wednesday during a conference call. "But we think we can continue to perform in that direction."
Europe's largest automaker said late on Tuesday that first-half operating profit was 5.78 billion euros ($7.66 billion), a decline of 11.6 percent from year-ago levels.
VW stood by a goal to match last year's record 11.5 billion-euro operating profit in 2013 and expects underlying earnings next year to exceed the 2012 level, the CFO said. ($1 = 0.7547 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Cremer)