Porsche posts all round growth in first half, hopes to maintain tempo |
|
|
Published
:
Sun, 29 Jan 2006 08:05
|
BERLIN: Luxury carmaker Porsche AG said its net profit has risen 13 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal, selling 41,750 cars to the end of January, which is 17 per cent higher than the figure for the corresponding period last year.
The company said net profit during the six months ended 31 January was 167.5 million euros, up from 148.3 million euros a year earlier. This beats the market prediction of 149 million euros.
Pretax profit grew 11.3 per cent, rising to 274 million euros from 246.1 million euros. Sales were up 15 per cent to 3.25 billion euros.
Porsche said it had sold 14,800 new Carrera 911 cars, while its new Boxster accounted for the strongest growth, with 9,740 vehicles sold -- a gain of 155 per cent. However, sales of the Cayenne sports utility were down 12.2 per cent to 19,960 units.
The company stated it is optimistic about the full year, hoping to have sales of more than 90,000 vehicles against 88,379 in the last fiscal. There will be high level of profitability in spite of increased costs on account of its development of the new Panamera model.
Chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking said he will do his best to increase earnings.
Porsche's profit margin is the highest among major auto manufacturers. Its pretax profit as a proportion of sales of 18.8 per cent can be compared with 9 per cent for Toyota Motor Corp., 9.3 per cent for Nissan Motor Co. and 8 per cent for BMW.
The company has become an 18.5 per cent shareholder -- the biggest -- in Volkswagen spending more than 3 billion euros. Wiedeking said it was necessary to protect the business ties as it makes its sports utility vehicles and is developing hybrid engines in collaboration with Volkswagen.
According to chief financial officer Holger Haerter, Porsche plans to account for the Volkswagen at equity and will include about a fifth of the affiliate's results in its accounts.
Porsche's stock, which has outperformed European car sector peers by over 6 per cent since the start of 2005, rose 1.8 per cent to 641.82 euros.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
Porsche plays white knight for VW 