Skip navigation
Newswire

VW denies report CFO to depart early

FRANKFURT, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen AG denied a magazine report on Saturday that its finance chief would be stepping down some 15 months earlier than planned.

Respected weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported in an article released ahead of publication on Monday that Bruno Adelt, 62, would have his contract cancelled at a meeting of VW's supervisory board on September 6.

"Volkswagen denies the Spiegel report," VW spokesman Kurt Rippholz told Reuters on Saturday. "Mr Adelt's contract will not be terminated."

The group, which posted stronger-than-expected second quarter profits last month, is in the process of driving down costs, launching new models and re-aligning its brands to stop them from competing against eachother.

VW extended Adelt's contract by one year to the end of 2003 in March, surprising some company-watchers who had expected him to step down shortly after former BMW AG boss Bernd Pischetsrieder took over in April.

Sources close to the company have said that Pischetsrieder wanted the benefit of the finance chief's experience as he takes control of the group.

Adelt is seen as a safe pair of hands but he has been criticised by analysts and fund managers for presiding over an opaque investor relations strategy, which some blame for the underperformance of the stock compared with its peers.

VW cut its profit outlook for 2002 when it posted second quarter results, bowing to what many saw as inevitable and indicating that Pischetsrieder may already have begun to make up lost ground in communications with investors.

The company launched its biggest ever single-tranche bond sale on Thursday, tapping markets for 1.5 billion euros in an issue that was more than twice oversubscribed amid strong demand from France, Britain, the Benelux countries and Italy.