Porsche op. profit seen at 700-800 mln eur -paper

Fri May 29, 2009 12:41pm EDT
 

 
 

 

FRANKFURT, May 29 (Reuters) - Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) will sell around 80,000 cars in the current fiscal year and expects to post a full-year operating profit of between 700 million euros ($979.5 million) and 800 million, a state politician told a German newspaper.

 

Claus Schmiedel, a member of parliament in Porsche's home state Baden-Wuerttemberg, told Stuttgarter Nachrichten in an interview to be published on Saturday he had spoken to Porsche's finance chief and taken a look at the carmaker's books.

 

"On an operating level Porsche does not have a problem -- unlike other producers," Schmiedel said, adding the company will achieve an operating margin of 12 percent.

 

In the following year Porsche aims to sell more than 100,000 cars and again make a profit of more than 1 billion euros, Schmiedel said.

 

Porsche, whose fiscal year ends July 31, declined to comment.

 

Porsche confirmed on Monday it got a 700 million euro loan from its Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE) unit but insisted it could cope with its debt woes. [ID:nL0107196]

 

Labouring under a 9 billion euro load of debt it had accumulated by the end of January, Porsche was forced to abandon a complete takeover of the Wolfsburg-based carmaker. (Reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by David Holmes)