At 3.1 billion euros, the operating result was around a fifth lower than in the same period last year, as the Volkswagen subsidiary announced on Wednesday. The return on sales from January to June was 15.7 percent, 3.2 percentage points lower than a year ago. However, analysts had expected the margin to fall even more sharply to 15.3 percent, according to data from LSEG.
CFO Lutz Meschke said that Porsche was financially robust and that the sales structure was well balanced. "This puts us in a position to largely absorb fluctuations in individual markets." The Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer sold just under 156,000 vehicles in the first half of the year, seven percent fewer than in the previous year, mainly due to a slump of one third in China. The world's largest car market is under pressure due to the weak economy and strong competition. Porsche does not want to react to this with increasing discounts, but is pursuing "value-oriented" sales. Model changes in four of the six model series this year are also having a negative impact on business.
(Report by Christina Amann, Ilona Wissenbach, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)
