BY MIKE OCHONMA
Luxury automaker Porsche AG has issued an ambitious long-term outlook of more than 20 percent of return on sales.
The company posted record 2022 earnings last week on the back of higher deliveries in which it is proposing a dividend of 1.00 euro per ordinary share and 1.01 euros per preferred.
The carmaker said its operating profit rose by 27 percent to 6.77 billion euros ($7.23 billion) last year, when deliveries rose by 2.6 percent to 309,884 units.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said it was a “very successful year,” with record sales, revenue and operating profit and a profit margin of 18 percent.
“Looking back over the last year, I think the main effects we had were a very positive product mix, our cost work is very, very efficient and on the other side, we had currency effects at the end to come to such a positive result,” Blume said.
According to the CEO “Pricing is important for Porsche and because of our luxury positioning, we are able to go to a very positive pricing level. We are increasing prices continuously, we are not jumping up and down, and have a very clear pricing strategy.”
The company is proposing a dividend of 1 euro per ordinary share and 1.01 euros per preferred share. It issued ongoing growth guidance on both the medium and long term:
“Should the economically challenging conditions not further intensify significantly, we expect a Group operating return on sales for the 2023 financial year in the range of 17 to 19 per cent,” said Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman and member of the executive board for finance and IT.
The medium-term guidance is based on sales revenue ranging between 40 to 42 billion euros.
Meschke added, “In the long run, we are aiming for a Group operating return on sales of more than 20 per cent.”
Porsche represents a substantial portion of revenues for the Volkswagen group, and overtook Volkswagen as Europe’s most valuable carmaker during its first week on the German stock market after listing on September 29 last year. The carmaker still owns 75 percent minus one ordinary share of Porsche’s total share capital.
