Successful months lie behind the sports and off-road vehicle manufacturer Porsche. The IPO last September is considered a success – and the annual figures also show a clear plus in almost all areas. Porsche has convinced and is driving away from the parent company VW, summed up Hendrik Schmidt from the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary DWS in the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart. Porsche AG had invited its new shareholders there on Wednesday – and had to put up with plenty of criticism from investors and activists in addition to praise.
This became most visible right at the beginning of the event: It wasn’t just the access routes that were blocked by activists from the last generation. During the speech by Porsche boss Oliver Blume (55), a woman stood up who, among other things, called “dirty dividends” and held up a banner that said “expropriate Nazi heritage”. According to the activists, another woman stuck herself to a sports car, smeared it with blood-like paint and showed her bare chest. A pie toss at Supervisory Board Chairman Wolfgang Porsche – like the other day at the VW general meeting – but didn’t happen.
In a joint statement by the action groups, it was said that they wanted to set an example – against the outdated production of luxury vehicles and global exploitation and destruction, which the group is continuing to promote in the name of the dividend. The activists also criticized the lack of public discussion of the role of company founder Ferdinand Porsche in National Socialism.
Shareholders’ criticism was once again sparked by Oliver Blume’s dual role. Because the 55-year-old is also CEO of the VW Group – and is the only manager at the head of two companies that are represented in the most important German stock index Dax. Shareholder representatives fear that this will result in management cuts and conflicts of interest between the parent company and the subsidiary.
The companies can afford a “part-time manager” – that’s how Ingo Speich from the savings bank fund company Deka Investment saw it. He asked Blume again on Wednesday to decide where he was needed more urgently. “Don’t endanger Porsche,” he said. “For you too, the day only has 24 hours”. Similarly clear criticism came from representatives of the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary DWS and the German Association for the Protection of Securities Ownership.
There had already been clear criticism at the VW general meeting in May. Blume countered on Wednesday: “The first few months since I took office have shown that my dual role works.” Its function is designed to last – with advantages for Porsche and the VW Group. However, precautions have been taken and rules set up for potential conflicts of interest.
Blume also pointed out that 2022 was by far the strongest year in Porsche’s history. With sales of 37.6 billion euros, the bottom line profit rose by 22.8 percent to almost 5.0 billion euros. The margin climbed from 16 to 18 percent. For 2023, Porsche expects group sales of between 40 and 42 billion euros and a return of 17 to 19 percent. In the long term, Blume is aiming for a return of 20 percent.
Another issue of conflict in Stuttgart was the amount of the dividend. Or better: the dividends. Because Porsche’s IPO in September was the largest German IPO since Telekom in 1996. However, only a quarter of the non-voting preferred shares are freely traded. In order to compensate for the lack of voting rights, a higher dividend is usually paid for these papers.
This is also the case with Porsche. EUR 1.00 should be paid out for common shares – EUR 1.01 for preferred shares. A proposal against which fund representatives and many small investors addressed. The dividend gap is puny, said Speich. 10 percent is reasonable. The well-known finance professor and Porsche shareholder Christian Strenger was also critical of the dividend. However, since the more than 170,000 private investors do not have voting rights, the dividend proposal was passed unanimously at the general meeting.