Porsche announced operating profit, sales revenue, unit deliveries and headcount increases for the first half of 2017.
Operating profit rose 16% to EUR2.1bn on revenue up 8% to EUR11.8bn. Profit margin was up to 18.1% from 16.8%) while unit deliveries rose 7% to 126,497. Workforce increased 12% to 29,280 people.
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Chairman Oliver Blume said: “Strong financial results create a solid foundation for the future… [including] future technologies such as plug-in hybrids and pure electric mobility.”
Finance chief Lutz Meschke said a long-term currency hedging strategy, efficient organisation and further optimised cost structure underpinned the positive results. But he cautioned “the extremely high result” in the first half “may well be difficult to sustain in the future”.
“We will only see a return on our sizeable investment for the development of our first purely electric sports car and the expansion of production at the Zuffenhausen site once the Mission E goes on sale at the end of the decade.”
Porsche is spending EUR1bn on the Mission E and creating 1,200 new jobs. It is also spending hundreds of millions of euros on future technologies and plug-in hybrid drives.
“It’s massively challenging managing a significant sum of investment while sustaining our high level of return at the same time,” Meschke added.
Provided foreign exchange rates remain stable, the Porsche chiefs expect a full year operating profit “slightly above the previous year’s high level” and are still aiming for an operating profit margin of at least 15%, a figure that, if achieved is likely to make many rival automaker CEOs and CFOs weep with envy.
The ‘diesel issue’ was also touched on.
“In the current discussion about diesel, Porsche accepts full responsibility towards its customers. It does not develop or manufacture diesel engines itself,” the automaker said.
The engines are supplied by Volkswagen.
