Porsche posts €7.34 billion in profits after seeing sales drop more than 27%

Porsche, coming off record sales and profits last financial year, has announced that for the first six months of the current year of business the company has experienced a 27.7% decrease in sales but miraculously profits have risen to €7.34 billion – up from €1.66 for the same period one year ago. While many of its rivals are struggling to stay in the black during the hard economic conditions, Porsche is in the unique position that it earns more income from its dealings in financial markets than it does from manufacturing and selling cars.

Profits are up because of positive contributions from cash-settled option transactions from changes in the share price of Volkswagen Group. This contribution increased from €850 million in the previous year to €6.84 billion this year, but depending on the current share price of VW the profits could dip by the end of the financial year.

Either way, with turnover only amounting to €3.04 billion, Porsche has once again managed to earn more profits than it made in sales. As for the actual numbers, sales of the 911 series amounted to 13,543 vehicles (16,261 in the previous year) and, in the case of the Boxster and Cayman, to 3,950 units (9,835 vehicles in the previous year). The Cayenne achieved sales of 16,773 vehicles (20,638 in the previous year).

Despite a strong chance of further declines in sales, the outlook for Porsche is looking very rosy, especially because the company has a range of new facelifted 911 models set for release this year, as well the new Panamera and recently updated Boxster and Cayman.