The car manufacturer Porsche has also seen weak demand in the current quarter China to fight. The company got off to a robust start in the second quarter, explained CFO Lutz Meschke (58) at the virtual general meeting on Friday.
Demand is encouraging in almost all regions. The exception is China. In the country, demand for exclusive products, including vehicles, is cautious across all markets. “Especially for China, we assume that things will remain extremely challenging for the time being,” said CEO Oliver Blume (56).
Decline in profits in the first quarter
A slump in sales in China was accompanied by high costs for new models Main reason for a decline in operating profits of 30 percent in the first quarter. However, Porsche management expects better development over the course of the year and therefore confirmed its annual forecast. This envisages sales of 40 to 42 billion euros and a return on sales of 15 to 17 percent.
Blume, as dual CEO, is also responsible for Porsche and the entire company Volkswagen-Group is currently struggling with some setbacks in e-mobility. He is a Fan of electromobile driving.
The Porsche Taycan is “vastly superior” to a similarly powerful combustion engine, Blume recently enthused after a trip and is sticking to the EU’s ban on combustion engines in 2035. He has set Porsche’s target of 85 percent electric power for 2030; He wants to make the world’s second-largest car manufacturer Volkswagen future-proof with a rapidly growing electric fleet. It remains to be seen whether this will be strong enough to survive against aggressive attackers like Tesla or BYD.
Double role criticized by Blume
Blume also has to repeatedly justify his dual role to shareholders. This was also the case at the sports car manufacturer’s virtual general meeting on Friday. On the one hand, it was criticized that he had to split his time between the two companies. On the other hand, VW and Porsche sometimes have different interests, which is a concern for shareholders.
Porsche is doubling its dividend for the 2023 financial year. The company pays a dividend of around 2.1 billion euros. This corresponds to almost 41 percent of the consolidated profit after taxes and 2.30 euros per ordinary share and 2.31 euros per preference share.
In addition, all ten shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board were unanimously re-elected for another term of office. The meeting of the Supervisory Board following the Annual General Meeting left Wolfgang Porsche (81) as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Jordana Vogiatzi as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board in office.