POAHY Porsche Automobile Holding SE (PK)

   By Jessica Sier 
 

Porsche AG is maintaining its margin target even with the impact of the coronavirus on the auto industry, the company said Friday.

"We aim to continue to achieve our strategic goal of a return on sales of 15%," Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke said, though admitting the coming months would be challenging, "not least because of the uncertainties surrounding coronavirus."

The sports car marker, a unit of Volkswagen AG, expects a decline of around 10% in vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2020 compared with last year because of the coronavirus outbreak, but Mr. Meschke said the carmarker is in a good position to earn a double-digit return as it did during the global financial crisis a decade ago.

During 2019, revenues at the sports car maker increased by 11% to 28.5 billion euros ($30.8 billion) thanks to a boost in sales figures. As reported in Volkswagen's results, Porsche's operating profit before special items rose slightly by 3% to EUR4.4 billion. The operating return on sales before special items fell to 15.4% from 16.6%. After special items, the margin was 13.5%.

Write to Jessica Sier at jessica.sier@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2020 08:06 ET (12:06 GMT)

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