Stuttgart, 15 May 2018. Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), Stuttgart, started the year positively and continues to benefit from the excellent development of its core investment in Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg. As Hans Dieter Pötsch, chairman of the executive board of Porsche SE, stated in his speech at today’s annual general meeting, Porsche SE generated group profit of 951 million euro (prior-year period: 986 million euro) in the first three months of 2018. The group profit was significantly influenced by the result from the investment accounted for at equity in Volkswagen AG, which decreased from 1.01 billion euro in the prior-year period to 967 million euro now. The net liquidity amounted to 931 million euro as of 31 March 2018 compared to 937 million euro as of the end of 2017. The equity of the Porsche SE Group increased to 31.95 billion euro (as of 31 December 2017: 31.41 billion euro).
The ITS (“Intelligent Transport Systems”) segment, which consists of the PTV Group, Karlsruhe, saw a result after tax of minus 6 million euro in the first three months of the fiscal year 2018 taking into account negative effects from the purchase price allocation of minus 2 million euro. The ITS segment generated revenue of 18 million euro in this period. This resulted primarily from license sales and maintenance services rendered and fell short of the expectations for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018.
Dividend of 1.76 euro per preference share proposed
The annual general meeting will decide on the proposed dividend of 1.76 euro per preference share and of 1.754 euro per ordinary share. The chairman of the executive board Hans Dieter Pötsch said in his speech: “Porsche SE’s dividend policy is geared towards sustainability. We will continue to abide by this principle.”
The resolution on the expansion of the supervisory board from six to ten members by means of an amendment to the articles of association as well as the authorization of the election of supervisory board members are also on the agenda.
Stake in the field of LIDAR acquired
As the chairman of the executive board explained in his speech, Porsche SE last month acquired a non-controlling interest in a US company in the field of laser-based object recognition, for short, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). The investment volume amounts to a single-digit million-euro figure. LIDAR is a key technology for modern driver assistance systems and will be pivotal for autonomous driving.
Forecast for 2018 confirmed
Based on the current group structure, Porsche SE continues to expect a group profit for the fiscal year 2018 of between 3.4 billion euro and 4.4 billion euro, as explained by the chairman of the executive board. The company again aims to achieve positive net liquidity. This is expected to be between 0.7 billion euro and 1.2 billion euro as of 31 December 2018, not taking future equity investments into account.
The group quarterly statement as of the first quarter of 2018 of Porsche Automobil Holding SE can be found at: https://www.porsche-se.com/en/investor-relations/financial-publications/
