BERLIN (Reuters) -Europe's largest automaker Volkswagen on Thursday warned the outlook for commodity markets remained uncertain after confirming it took a major hit to its third-quarter profit from raw materials hedges.
"We cannot be satisfied with our profitability, which dragged behind our ambitious targets in the third quarter," Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said in a statement.
The company had released preliminary third-quarter results on Friday that cut its profit margin outlook for the current year, disappointing investors.
Like many other industrial firms, automakers hedge against commodity price swings, potentially leading to non-cash gains or losses, usually at the end of each quarter.
This led to a 2.5 billion euro ($2.64 billion) non-cash loss in the third quarter that it will be unable to offset by the end of the year.
"The further development of the commodity markets remains unpredictable," Volkswagen said.
The German automaker said over the next few weeks potential cost cuts across all of its brands "will be identified and implemented swiftly."
Volkswagen on Thursday confirmed it posted 78.8 billion euros in third-quarter sales and a 14% rise in operating profit to 4.9 billion euros.
The company said it still expected to deliver between 9 million and 9.5 million vehicles to customers this year, and for group sales revenue to be 10% to 15% higher than in 2022.
($1 = 0.9486 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Nick Carey; Editing by Rachel More and Jamie Freed)
