Net profit at Volkswagen dropped by around one-fifth in the first quarter of 2016, as the carmaker struggles to absorb the costs of a major emissions-rigging scandal.

    Profits for the first three months of the year fell to 2.3 billion euros (2.56 billion dollars) from 2.9 billion euros in the same period of 2015, according to results released by the company on Tuesday.

    VW has faced heavy costs in recent months as it recalls and refits thousands of diesel cars fitted with software designed to cheat environmental emissions standards, German News Agency (DPA) reported.

    The decline was greater than predicted, with analysts surveyed by the news agency Bloomberg expecting first-quarter operating profit to drop to 2.75 billion euros. "In the first quarter, we once again managed to limit the economic effects of the diesel issue and achieve respectable results under difficult conditions," chief executive Mattias Mueller said in a statement.