VW tows Porsche to profit

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The European car industry received a rare boost today with the news that Porsche has announced a huge increase in profits in the six months to the end of January, largely due to its stake in Volkswagen Group.   The German luxury carmaker's net profits for the period were Ôé¼5.5 billion (┬ú5.1 billion), four times higher than for the same period a year ago.   The increase was due to a big rise in the price of shares in VW, in which Porsche owns a 50 percent holding. VWÔÇÖs strong performance helped to cover up a 25 percent drop in Porsche sales.   "The principal reason for this dramatic increase is the positive contribution to profits from changes in the stock exchange price of VW shares," Porsche said. The share price rises contributed Ôé¼6.84 billion to the company's pre-tax profit of Ôé¼7.34 billion.   Porsche pointed out, however, that if VW shares were to fall in value, the profit figure could also fall. "The amount [contributed by VW shares] could decrease again and could, by the end of the business year, be less than the half-year amount," it said.   PorscheÔÇÖs turnover fell by 12.8 percent to Ôé¼3.04 billion over the six months, with vehicle sales falling by 26.7 percent to 34,266 vehicles.   *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *