Volkswagen CEO to step down
The US CEO and President of Volkswagen is stepping down, just months after the company was hit by an emissions scandal that rocked the car industry.
Michael Horn’s departure was announced in a statement by Volkswagen this morning, and is effective immediately. It is said to be “through mutual agreement”, and he will be replaced on an interim basis by Hinrich J. Woebcken, the recently announced new Head of the North American Region and Chairman of Volkswagen Group of America. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen brand, commented:
“I want personally to say ‘thank you’ to Michael Horn for the great work he has done for the brand and with the dealers in the United States,” said Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen brand. “During his time in the U.S., Michael Horn built up a strong relationship with our national dealer body and showed exemplary leadership during difficult times for the brand,” he added.
The long-standing German carmakers was hit late last year by the revelation that its ‘environmentally friendly’ Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche diesels were equipped with devices that lowered emissions results during tests. Almost 600,000 VW cars in the US were affected.
Morrisons hit by further decline
Troubled supermarket chain Morrisons have been hit by yet another disappointing set of financial results, marking their fourth straight year of decline.
The company reported a 27 percent fall in annual profit on Thursday, despite signing a strategic deal with Amazon – a nine year low. It made an underlying pretax profit before one off items of 302 million pounds in the year to January 31st.
Shares (LON:MRW) are trading down 1.04 percent at 199.90 (1007GMT).
Oil prices dip again
Oil prices fell on Thursday after hitting highs earlier this week, disappointing investors and causing further uncertainty.
Expectations of more stimulus from the European Central Bank’s meeting this week, which would strengthen the dollar against the euro, also affected markets.
After a 5 percent rise on Wednesday, Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $40.57 per barrel (0805GMT), with US crude CLc1 down 32 cents at $37.97 per barrel.
Analysts warned that the gains earlier this week were unusual, and that with supply still outstripping demand, the glut is expected to continue well into 2017.
10/03/2016
