Volkswagen shares up four percent ahead of appointment of new CEO

25 September 2015 06:30 pm

AFP - Shares in auto giant Volkswagen shot up more than four percent in early trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange yesterday ahead of the widely anticipated announcement of its new chief executive.
VW shares, which have bounced back over the past two days from unprecedented losses at the start of the week, hit an intraday high of 117 euros in the first few minutes of trading, an increase of 4.3 percent from the closing price the day before.
At 0715 GMT, they were showing a gain of 3.05 percent at 115.57 euros.
Volkswagen was set to name its new chief executive later in the day, replacing Martin Winterkorn who quit over the global pollution cheating scandal engulfing the group.
Volkswagen’s 20-member supervisory board was scheduled to meet at their headquarters in Wolfsburg to designate the new leader, but according to reports, they have already decided to tap on the current chief of VW’s luxury sportscar division, Porsche. Business daily Handelsblatt, quoting sources close to the supervisory board, said 62-year-old Matthias Mueller has been chosen to take the driving seat vacated by Winterkorn on Wednesday as a consequence of the scandal that has rocked the automobile sector over the past week.