Volkswagen Q1 operating profit jumps thanks to VW brand

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen posted a 28 percent jump in first-quarter operating profit, helped by a return to earnings growth at its core VW brand, which has struggled to recover from the German carmaker's diesel emissions scandal.

Group operating profit came to 4.4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) in the three months through March, Volkswagen said on Tuesday, compared with 3.4 billion it reported for the year-earlier period.

Shares in Volkswagen jumped on the news, trading 3.5 percent higher at 135.70 euros at 1407 GMT, making them the second-biggest gainers on the STOXX Europe 600 index.

Although the group as a whole has bounced back from the scandal, and overtook Japan's Toyota last year to become the world's biggest selling carmaker, analysts view a turnaround at the VW brand as key to its prospects.

Volkswagen said on Tuesday that first-quarter operating earnings at the VW brand came to around 900 million euros, up from 73 million in the year-earlier period.

It said it still expected to report a full-year group return on sales between 6 and 7 percent this year.

($1 = 0.9359 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Harro ten Wolde and Victoria Bryan)