VW's Audi sees Q4 oper profit exceeding 348 mln eur

FRANKFURT Oct 30 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG.DE) premium Audi brand expects its fourth-quarter operating profit to exceed the 348 million euros ($515.8 million) earned in the third quarter, its finance chief said on Friday.

"We expect an earnings performance that is higher than that of the third quarter," Audi's Axel Strotbek said in a statement.

That would imply full-year operating profit of more than 1.52 billion euros versus the 2.77 billion it earned in 2008.

For the first nine months, Audi said its pretax profit was 1.4 billion euros, translating to healthy margin of 6.5 percent.

The entire Volkswagen group posted nine-month earnings before tax of only 1.07 billion euros, implying it would have posted a pretax loss without the help of its premium brand.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner, Editing by Michael Shields)