Porsche struggles in the aftermath of its failed takeover of Volkswagen
PORSCHE, the luxury carmaker, is headed for a second consecutive annual loss which is set to hit billions of euros, it said yesterday, as the hangover lingers from its failed takeover of Volkswagen.
Its indebted automotive holding arm, which was created as a vehicle for the acquisition, will stay deeply in the red as it is forced to deconsolidate its Volkswagen stake and much of its sports car business, it added.
Porsche posted a group net loss of about €3.6bn (£1.9bn) for the fiscal 2008/09 year. Net debt remains at around €11.4bn.
Its net debt ballooned in fiscal 2009, and the German-based company forecast losses would be in the “low single-digit billion-euro range” next year.
It also reported debt levels much higher than previously disclosed, saying debt at the end of its fiscal first half was €9bn – up from €3.1bn for the year to July 2008.
But Michael Macht, the new head of Porsche’s sports cars business, said the company would achieve savings in the high hundreds of millions of euros this year and the next, and that he saw further advantages from synergies with Volkswagen which had yet to be mapped out.