Porsche Q3 in Black at €437 Million Because of VW

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After the first nine months of the fiscal year 2020, Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), Stuttgart is making money again, albeit only at €437 million after tax (prior-year period: 3.52 billion euro). After the first six months of the fiscal year 2020, this figure had been negative at minus -€329 million.

Porsche SE’s positive result after tax basically comes from the profit from an investment accounted for at equity in Volkswagen AG of €505 million (prior-year period: €3.58 billion. Porsche Se is the largest holder of VW common stock). The business of the Volkswagen Group was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the first nine months of 2020 but made a recovery in the third quarter. Nonetheless both groups remain in difficult if not precarious financial positions.

Net liquidity of the Porsche SE Group came to €492 million euro as of 30 September 2020 (31 December 2019: €553 million). Due to the record date, this figure did not include either the dividend inflow to Porsche SE from Volkswagen AG of €756 million or the dividend distribution to the shareholders of Porsche SE of €676 million. Both cash flows occurred in October 2020. AutoInformed at the time questioned the wisdom of the distributions given the ongoing Covid pandemic. (Volkswagen Group Closes 2019 Books)

The board of management of Porsche SE is “still of the opinion that it is currently impossible to give a reliable and realistic forecast for the group result after tax for the fiscal year 2020. However, overall the Porsche SE Group expects a positive group result after tax for the fiscal year 2020.”

The forecast of the group net liquidity of Porsche SE remains unchanged. Without taking additional investments into account, it lies in a corridor of €0.4 billion to €0.9 billion as of 31 December 2020.