Volkswagen shares jump on Piech exit as investors await change

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen shares jumped in early Monday trading as investors hope that Europe's largest carmaker can shift the focus back on operational business after a damaging two-week public leadership dispute. VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech resigned on Saturday after losing a showdown he had provoked with Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn on April 10. Preference shares in Volkswagen rose more than 5 percent, nearly making up for a slide in value during the two-week boardroom battle, and were trading up 3 percent at 240 euros as of 0853 GMT. "Piech's departure is good news for VW," said London-based Arndt Ellinghorst of advisory firm Evercore ISI who has raised his recommendation on the stock to "buy". "VW has a better chance to turn itself into a more profitable and valuable business." Almost 80 percent of investors believe a change at the helm of VW's supervisory board would be good for shares as it may help unlock greater earnings potential at the 12-brand group which has been struggling with flagging profitability at its key autos division, a survey of Evercore ISI showed. Wolfsburg-based VW is aiming to cut billions of euros of costs at the VW namesake brand and tackling underperformance in overseas markets such as the United States and Brazil. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)