- Volkswagen shares have enjoyed strong demand thanks largely to its electric vehicle surge and favourable comparisons with Tesla
- Preference shares are now trading at a 25 per cent discount to ordinary shares
Volkswagen has two share classes. That’s not unusual for a listed company, especially a German one where family owners have long liked to protect their voting rights by splitting shares into ordinary (voting) and preference (income-paying) classes. But it is unusual for there to be such a price difference between the two share classes of one company.
At the time of writing Volkswagen’s ordinary shares (VOW) are changing hands for €320. The preference shares (VOW3) trade at €239 - a 25 per cent discount. VOW is up 91 per cent in the year to date, VOW3 up 61 per cent.