Porsche Automobil Holding (Porsche SE) boosted full year group profit to EUR3.03bn from EUR2.41bn helped by profit from its investment accounted for at equity in the Volkswagen Group which increased from EUR2.71bn to EUR3.43bn.
At the annual press conference in Stuttgart on Tuesday (17 March), chairman Martin Winterkorn said: “In 2014, Porsche SE again made significant progress. As a strong investment holding company, [we] benefited considerably from the outstanding development of the Volkswagen Group.”
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Acquiring a stake of around 10% in US technology company INRIX meant Porsche SE had taken the first step toward enhancing its investment portfolio. INRIX is a global provider of connected car services and real time traffic information.
“Connectivity between vehicles and infrastructure is one of the megatrends in the automotive industry. We see this as an extremely interesting and profitable field for future investments,” Winterkorn said.
Porsche SE’s net liquidity fell to EUR2.27bn from EUR 2.61bn due not to higher operating expenses and interest payments plus income tax payments of EUR183m as well as the EUR 41m INRIX stake purchase.
Equity decreased from EUR30.47bn to EUR29.49bn at the end of 2014 despite the annual profit. This was due mainly to an effect at Volkswagen group level which had to be booked directly in equity with no effect on the consolidated income statement, in connection with Volkswagen AG’s public offer to the shareholders of Scania AB to tender all shares in Scania to Volkswagen.
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By GlobalDataIn a statement, Porsche SE said also made significant progress in legal disputes in the past year as all litigation in the US was concluded.
It also saw “advancements” in actions for damages pending in Germany. In March 2014, the regional court of Stuttgart dismissed a EUR1.36bn claim brought by 23 American hedge funds. Following this decision, 19 plaintiffs filed appeals with the higher regional court. In the oral hearing at the end of February, the court scheduled a decision for 26 March 2015.
A further claim for damages, with a disputed value of EUR1.8bn, is pending before the regional court of Hanover. In addition, two cases with a total disputed value of EUR1.9bn euro were referred to the regional court by the regional court of Braunschweig after the plaintiffs claimed antitrust aspects.
“Porsche SE considers all the allegations to be without merit and will continue to defend itself using all legal means at its disposal. To date, the courts have held Porsche SE to be in the right in all four cases in which a judgment has been reached,” the statement added.
Porsche SE plans to distribute a dividend of EUR2.01 per share for full year 2014 to the holders of preference shares. Holders of ordinary shares will receive EUR2.004.
The firm expects 2015 full year group profit between EURE2.8bn and EUR3.8bn and positive net liquidity of between EUR1.7bn and EUR2.3bn, “not taking into consideration future investments”.
