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By Bloomberg

Volkswagen AG reported a 17 percent jump in first-quarter profit, beating analysts’ predictions, as the company sought to move past a tumultuous power struggle that culminated with the resignation of Chairman Ferdinand Piech.

Aided by the weak euro and growth at the upscale Audi and Porsche brands, earnings before interest and taxes increased to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), solidly ahead of the 3.14 billion euro that analysts had forecast. VW’s namesake car brand improved margins, and even the long-struggling Seat nameplate posted a profit.

The first-quarter earnings “will allay some concerns that recent board changes were related to operating conditions,” Philip Watkins, a London-based analyst at Citigroup Inc., said in a note.

VW was shaken by Piech’s comments earlier this month questioning the authority of Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn and dismissing him as a potential successor as chairman. The attack came without explanation and was followed by behind-the-scenes efforts to oust the CEO, who has led the company within reach of overtaking Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s biggest carmaking group. Piech stepped down on Saturday.

Volkswagen didn’t address the power struggle in its earnings statement, but Winterkorn did defend the company’s strategy.

“We are optimally positioned to master the divergent trends in the global automotive markets,” the 67-year-old CEO said in a statement.

Margin Gain

That first-quarter figures backed up that comment. The 12- brand group’s operating profit margin improved to 6.3 percent of revenue from 6 percent. That’s on the upper end of the full-year target range of 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent.

With the first returns from a 5 billion-euro efficiency program at the VW car brand trickling in, the company’s biggest unit improved its profit margin to 2 percent from 1.8 percent, as it weathered steep declines in Russia and Latin America. Still, that’s a far cry from a target of more than 6 percent of sales by 2018.

“The development of the VW brand will be in focus in coming months,” said Daniel Schwarz, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank AG. “The margin is still pretty weak,” but the overall numbers for the group “look robust.”

Volkswagen shares rose as much as 2.2 percent to 245.50 euros and were up 1.6 percent at 10:56 a.m. in Frankfurt. The stock has climbed 32 percent this year, valuing the company at 115 billion euros.

Porsche Macan

First-quarter revenue rose 10 percent to 52.7 billion euros, helped by foreign-exchange effects stemming from the euro’s decline. Volkswagen remained in second place in worldwide deliveries versus Toyota during the quarter, with sales rising 1.8 percent to 2.49 million cars and trucks, compared with a 2.5 percent decline to 2.52 million vehicles at the Japanese competitor.

VW’s strength remains its position in luxury cars. Audi posted a 6.1 percent increase in first-quarter deliveries, helping the brand boost operating profit 7.7 percent to 1.4 billion euros. Demand for the Porsche Macan compact crossover helped that brand’s deliveries surge 32 percent. The sports-car unit’s profit rose 9.6 percent to 765 million euros.

The company was also profitable with mass-market cars. Spanish brand Seat, which has posted losses for years, reported a profit of 33 million euros in the period helped by demand for the Leon hatchback. Profit at Czech brand Skoda soared 31 percent to 242 million euros, bolstered by the revamped Fabia hatchback and new Rapid sedan.

“Overall good numbers from VW,” Arnd Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Evercore ISI, said in an e-mail