Porsche Posts Another Record Result

Sports car maker Porsche, already the world's most profitable carmaker, posted another record annual result on Friday and said earnings prospects for the current year were positive.

Confirming preliminary figures presented in September, Porsche said pretax profit for the year ending July 31, 2001 rose 25.6% to 592.4 million euros, clearly above analysts' expectations.

Sales were up 21.8% to 4.44 billion euros. Group net profit rose to 270.5 million euros from 210 million euros a year earlier, while net profit for parent Porsche AG rose to 268 million euros from 110.4 million euros.

Porsche said it will propose a dividend of 2.6 euros per preference share and 2.54 euros per ordinary share.

Despite the downturn in the global economy, chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking said earnings prospects were "positive" for the current year, indicating that the group expects to at least match last year's results.

He argued that sales of the group's higher-margin 911 model have continued to be strong and that its product mix is improving. Porsche also said that its supervisory board agreed to extend Wiedeking's contract until 2007. His current contract expires in September 2002.