By Max Bernhard 
 

Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Friday that its net profit more than doubled in 2017, helped by higher vehicle sales.

Net profit for the year rose to 11.35 billion euros ($13.96 billion), up from EUR5.14 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected net profit of EUR11.48 billion.

Revenue increased about 6.2% to EUR230.7 billion from EUR217.3 billion a year ago.

The 2017 results represent Volkswagen's return to pre-crisis profit levels. In 2014, the year before the company admitted to having installed software in diesel vehicles that let it dodge emissions testing, Volkswagen's net profit was EUR10.85 billion.

Looking to the year ahead, Volkswagen said revenue could rise by as much as 5% and its operating return on sales could be between 6.5% and 7.5%. In 2017, the figure was 7.4%.

The company also expects to "modestly exceed" its 2017 delivery figure of 10.7 million vehicles.

Write to Max Bernhard at Max.Bernhard@dowjones.com; @mxbernhard

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2018 11:20 ET (16:20 GMT)