The VW umbrella holding company Porsche SE made less profit in the first half of the year due to the problems in the VW Group. The bottom line is that earnings after taxes fell by almost 8 percent to 2.13 billion euros, the DAX group announced on Tuesday. Effects from accounting purchase price allocations for the investment in sports car manufacturer Porsche AG had a positive effect.
The investment result on Volkswagen-Group, however, sank. Porsche SE was able to reduce its net debt to 5.0 billion euros by the middle of the year. At the end of March it was still at 5.8 billion. The company particularly benefited from the dividends received from VW and Porsche AG. Management confirmed the forecasts for after-tax earnings and net debt for the full year.
Scope for further participation
Porsche SE (PSE) is the holding company of the VW-owning families Porsche and Piech. It has a direct stake of 12.5 percent in the sports car manufacturer Porsche AG. In addition, there is a shareholding with a majority of voting rights in the Volkswagen Group, which in turn holds the majority in Porsche AG. The result after taxes at PSE is significantly influenced by the two core investments. Along with the Volkswagen Group, the PSE also lowered its earnings forecast for the year at the beginning of July.
As his financial strength grows, the major VW and Porsche shareholder wants to supplement his two main holdings with shares in other smaller companies. “Our financial resources give us considerable scope for potential investments in further core and portfolio investments,” said CFO Johannes Lattwein (51) on Tuesday. “The current stock market environment and the resulting overall decline in company valuations open up attractive opportunities for us.”
Most recently, the one controlled by the Porsche and Piech families rose Holding with the long-distance bus and train operator Flix. Together with the financial investor EQT, Kühne Holding and other partners, Porsche SE secured around 35 percent of the shares. Porsche is investing a low double-digit million amount for this.
“Flix is an impressive success story,” says Lutz Meschke (58), Board Member for Investment Management at Porsche SE. The investment with EQT exemplifies “our approach to working with world-leading investors to implement our investment strategy.”