Earlier this year, it was reported that Porsche expected their profit to significantly exceed revenue. Yes, you read that correctly. Porsche will recognize more money in profit than they did in turnover or sales. How is this possible you ask? Quite simple actually. The shrewd investment made by Porsche in Volkswagen is paying dividends beyond what anyone could have reasonably expected.
At the end of Porsche’s fiscal year, they had acquired just over 22% of Volkswagen. As of today, they have increased that stake to 43%. Porsche’s investment into VW contributed almost 80% of their pre-tax profit or 6.8 billion Euro out of a total 8.6 billion. While not quite as high as expected, the numbers are still incredibly impressive.
You may remember that Porsche’s announcement last month to increase their stake in VW by another 31.5% (bringing the total to 75%) caused VWs shares to skyrocket. Prices reached as high as 1,005 Euro leaving short-sellers scrambling to cover their positions.
Porsche to Increase VW Position to 75%
With a 75% position in VW Porsche will have effective control of not only VW, but Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. A very impressive roster to say the least.
In forward looking statements the company says it is in a good position but warned that it is “very difficult to make reliable statements on the course of the current business year as a whole because of the current economic situation, which is extremely tense due to the U.S. mortgage crisis and the financial market crisis.” In addition, it said Porsche would act cautiously and “if necessary, respond flexibly to any further economic upheavals.”
It will be interesting to see what next year brings for Porsche. Their saving grace for the past few years has been the ever increasing sales of their hugely successful Cayenne SUV. With automotive sales off by over 50% in some sectors, Porsche will have a difficult time performing a repeat on this type of performance. It remains to be seen what type of impact (positive or negative) the long awaited four door Panamera will have on sales.
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[Source: Porsche SE]