Porsche CEO Sees Stable Operating Profit in the Next Few Years
January 13 2016 - 12:30PM
Dow Jones News
By Ilka Kopplin
DETROIT-- Porsche AG chief executive Oliver Blume said he
expects operating profit in the next few years to remain stable at
around the level of the past two years, given high investments,
speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the North American
International Auto Show in Detroit.
In December, Porsche's supervisory board approved EUR1 billion
in outlays for the sports car maker's electric car project. That
followed approval over the summer of a EUR1 billion package to
modernize production sites. Mr. Blume said he couldn't rule out a
decline in operating profit as a result, a reversal for the brand
that contributed a big chunk of parent Volkswagen AG's profit in
the past.
The brand's financial results could show some consolidation, Mr.
Blume cautioned, but noted that depending on market and currency
developments, operating profit could be slightly higher or lower
than the average level attained over the past two years.
In 2014, Porsche AG's operating profit was up 5.4% from a year
earlier, and jumped around 30% in the first nine months of 2015 to
EUR2.55 billion.
Porsche ended the year on a positive note, he said. In the fall,
the company forecast considerably higher sales and operating profit
for the full year, compared with 2014. Deliveries, a proxy for
sales, were up about 19% in 2015, to 225,000 cars.
For 2016, Mr. Blume expects sales growth in deliveries in at
least a single-digit-percentage range.
Mr. Blume said he didn't expect parent Volkswagen AG's emissions
scandal to harm the brand's image. Last year, Volkswagen admitted
to installing software in 11 million diesel models world-wide,
allowing the vehicles to cheat emission tests.
The engines of affected 3-liter diesel models at Porsche were
from Audi, he noted, but Porsche would contribute to resolving the
matter, and said it would continue to produce diesel models.
U.S. authorities are expected to make a decision regarding
3-liter diesel engine remedy proposals in January, he said.
Mr. Blume took the helm at Porsche AG from Matthias Mueller, who
was appointed chief executive of the Volkswagen group after the
scandal broke in September of last year.
Write to Ilka Kopplin at ilka.kopplin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 13, 2016 13:15 ET (18:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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