Porsche reportedly said it would publish quarterly revenue figures next week for the first time, in a bid to reassure investors that its business is on track despite a strong euro and a weak economy, the Reuters news agency said.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
According to Reuters, the world’s most profitable car maker has always refused to issue quarterly earnings reports, saying they are of no benefit to shareholders and encourage a short-termist business strategy.
But, the news agency noted, Porsche stock has been one of the worst performers in a weak sector since the start of the year, falling by over a quarter and under-performing an index of its European peers by 16% as investors worry about falling sales of its sports cars and its exposure to the weak US market.
Reuters said the company will report nine-month unit sales, revenue and production figures and is expected to give guidance on its outlook for the year to the end of July. It reports profits only on a half-yearly basis.
“What we’re doing next week is not a quarterly report. But we’ve discussed the fact that in the past we had a long time period from early March until the middle of September where we had no company figures,” a Porsche spokesman told Reuters.
The news agency also noted that Porsche US sales have slowed and that there are signs the newly-launched Cayenne SUV, developed to diversify Porsche away from a two-model line of sportscars, is not selling as well as hoped.
“The inventory of this newly-launched Cayenne is already starting to build up in the US, which is almost unheard of for a new Porsche model,” Reuters cited Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein analyst Thomas Aney as saying in a recent note.
The US website AutoSpies, which focuses on luxury European import brands, claimed this week that US Porsche dealers have stopped taking orders for 2003 model year sports cars and will only accept orders for ‘04s, for delivery from October onwards. A separate report noted high Cayenne inventories in the Washington DC area and highlighted the large number of the SUVs advertised for sale through the online version of AutoTrader.
