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(Mon 02 Mar 09) Several manufacturers are relying on governments to keep them afloat these days, but not Porsche. Although precise figures are not yet available, Porsche is already saying that its pre-tax profit actually increased during the first half of the current business year (up to January 31).
This is not because more people are buying Porsches. In fact, sales have fallen by 26.7% (to 34,266 units), while turnover is down 12.8% (to €3.04 billion). The reason those two figures don't match is that the greatest decline in sales is in the Boxster/Cayman range, which represents Porsche's cheapest model line - around 50% of Porsche customers buy the more expensive Cayenne SUV. Nor are the increased profits a sign that Porsche is holding back on research and development. On the contrary, it is putting a lot of money into two new models, the Panamera four-door and the hybrid version of the Cayenne. So where has the profit come from? "Cash-settled share option transactions by which Porsche participates in changes to the stock exchange price of Volkswagen shares," according to the company, which announced at the start of this year that it had increased its shareholding in VW to just over 50%. Not that Porsche is going to keep relying on share transactions to make money, though - the revised Boxster and Cayman and the first-ever diesel Cayenne are expected to bring sales back up in 2009. In the circumstances, Porsche is expressing confidence that it can persuade the banks to extend its current credit line of €10 billion, which at the moment is due to expire at the end of this month. Porsche Gallery Previous: Fiat Leads On CO2 Next: Seven-Seat Peugeot Partner |
