Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, is looking back at a
most successful year of business of its wholly-owned subsidiary Dr. Ing.
h.c. F. Porsche AG in 2006/07. Both revenues and sales as well as earnings
reached new records. The significant improvement of the Group’s result from
Euro 2.110 billion in the previous year to Euro 5.857 billion in the year
under report is also attributable to the very positive effects of stock
option transactions amounting to Euro 3.593 billion. The re-valuation of
the stake in Volkswagen also results in a one-off addition to the accounts
of Euro 520.8 million. The earnings attributable to Porsche from the stake
in Volkswagen AG of 22.5 per cent at the end of the business year amount to
Euro 702.4 million.
The result of the operative business of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
developed very positively, improving once again and thus reaching yet
another new record. Porsche has capitalised on this excellent development,
further enhancing the Company’s risk-conscious accounting policy to an even
higher standard within the limits allowed by law. Precisely this is why
compared to the previous business year additional development expenditure
in the high three-digit million-Euro range was incurred on the Panamera,
Porsche’s fourth model series, and on hybrid drive.
The contribution of currency hedging transactions in the US dollar is once
again positive, but no longer reaches the previous year’s level.
Dividend payments to shareholders up 145 per cent
The Group’s annual surplus (earnings after tax) increased in the period
under report to Euro 4.242 (previous year: Euro 1.393) billion. Earnings
per share are Euro 239.80 (Euro 78.10) per common share and Euro 239.86
(Euro 78.22) per preferred share. Since Porsche’s shareholders are to
participate in this excellent development, the Annual General Meeting to be
held in the Porsche Arena on 25 January 2008 will be advised to increase
the dividend to Euro 6.94 (Euro 5.94) per common share and Euro 7.- (Euro
6.-) per preferred share. In consideration of the high, one-off earnings,
the Annual General Meeting will also be advised to endorse a special
dividend of Euro 15.- (Euro 3.-) on each common and preferred share. This
would increase the total dividend payment to Euro 384.5 (Euro 157.-)
million, up by 145 per cent.
General Meeting deciding on share split
To improve tradability of Porsche stock for the private investor, the
General Meeting will furthermore be advised to endorse a 1:10 share split
together with a re-classification of the Company’s stock capital: The stock
capital of Porsche Automobil Holding SE is currently Euro 45.5 million and
is split up into 8.75 million common and 8.75 million preferred shares. To
ensure that the calculatory value of each share in the stock capital is
Euro 1.- following the share split, the stock capital is to be increased
from profit reserves to Euro 175 million and subsequently re-distributed as
87.5 million common and 87.5 million preferred shares. As a result, each
holder of one existing common or preferred Porsche share would hold ten
shares of the respective category in future, with the share split, again in
mathematical terms, reducing the stock price to one-tenth of the current
price, without affecting the overall value of the shares held by
shareholders.
Sales and revenues above the previous year’s figures
A retrospective look back at the 2006/07 year of business as a whole shows
very positive results: Delivering a total of 97,515 cars to customers,
Porsche once again set up a new sales record, up 0.7 per cent over the
previous year’s figure. Group revenues increased by an even greater margin
of 3.4 per cent to a new all-time high of Euro 7.37 billion. This success
is attributable to the further improved product mix, with greater sales of
high-value cars such as the new 911 Turbo than in the previous year of
business. The new Cayenne with its fuel-efficient power units for enhanced
fuel economy likewise received a very positive response from customers the
world over.
Production of the 911 reaches record level
Reaching a total of 101,844 units, production was almost the same as the
102,602 units built in the previous year. Production of the 911 model
series at the Zuffenhausen Plant amounted to 38,959 cars, more than ever
before. Production of the Cayenne model series at the Leipzig Plant
amounted to 36,169 units, while production of the Boxster model series –
which also includes the Cayman models in Finland – reached the figure of
26,712 cars. Headcount within the Group was up 1.6 per cent to 11,571
employees.
Outlook: growth continuing in markets of the future
Focusing on the 2007/08 business year, which began on 1 August 2007,
Porsche is confident that the Company will maintain its successful
development. This is already confirmed by the development up to
mid-November, indicating that revenues will increase to approximately Euro
2.36 billion by the end of the first four months of the year. Compared with
the previous year’s figure of Euro 2.06 billion, this would equal an
increase by 14.7 per cent.
Sales showed a similarly positive development, with the sales volume in the
first four months expected to increase 18.4 per cent to approximately
30,700 cars (previous year: 25,939 units).
Out of Porsche’s three model series, the Cayenne is accelerating fastest in
the market, with sales expected to increase by 76 per cent to approximately
13,400 units. This clearly confirms great customer interest in the new
Cayenne, although the previous year’s figure of 7,608 units was also a
result of the discontinuation of the first generation of Porsche’s Sports
Utility. The 911 is expected to increase to a sales volume of 10,800 units
by the end of the period under report, up at least 3 per cent over last
year’s very high figure of 10,469 units. The Boxster model series, finally,
including the Cayman, will decrease in sales by 17 per cent to some 6,500
cars.
The increase in sales in the various regions differs from case to case. In
North America sales are continuing to grow, with an anticipated increase of
13.7 per cent to 10,750 units. Germany shows a slight increase to
approximately 3,950 cars. The other world regions are growing significantly
in the first four months of the current year of business by more than 26
per cent, accounting for sales of approximately 16,000 units.
In all, Porsche intends in the 2007/08 business year to maintain the high
level of sales in the previous year. This sales volume will also come from
new models such as the particularly sporting Cayenne GTS, the 911 Turbo
Cabriolet and the 911 GT2, and from the Company’s ongoing growth in the
future markets China and Russia.
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