Porsche SE posted first-quarter adjusted profit after tax of €382 million, a 21% decline from the same period last year. The stock fell 2.28% on the news.
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, PAH3.DE
The holding company’s group net result came in at a loss of €923 million. That was largely driven by a €1.3 billion non-cash writedown on its Volkswagen stake.
Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch said the start to the fiscal year was in line with expectations. But his tone on the broader outlook was harder to ignore.
“The business models that have served our core investments well for a long time now need to be realigned,” Pötsch said in a statement Tuesday.
That language is being read as direct pressure on Volkswagen, where Porsche SE holds 31.9% of voting stock and 53.3% of voting rights. The holding company also owns 12.5% of sports-car maker Porsche AG.
Group net debt stood at €5.1 billion at the end of the quarter, within the company’s guided range of €4.7 billion to €5.2 billion for the full year.
Porsche SE kept its full-year forecast for a positive adjusted group result after tax of between €1.5 billion and €3.5 billion. That’s a wide range, and the company was upfront about why.
Potential effects from higher U.S. import tariffs on passenger cars and trucks from the European Union were flagged as a risk that “could not be reliably estimated.” The same was said for any future fallout from the conflict in the Middle East. Both were excluded from the forecast.
During the quarter, Porsche SE raised €60 million from the sale of its stake in Celestial AI, a U.S.-based photonics startup.
VW CEO Oliver Blume has committed to further cost-cutting on top of 50,000 job cuts already underway across the group. Plants in Germany remain under scrutiny, despite a 2024 deal with unions that guarantees no closures this decade.
Pötsch has previously described Porsche SE as a committed anchor investor in Volkswagen. But the pressure for structural change has grown louder.
VW is grappling with declining margins, slowing EV demand, and rising competition from Chinese automakers.
Porsche SE’s latest comments land as Volkswagen works through one of the most complex restructurings in its recent history.
Pötsch’s statement that the group’s business models must be “fundamentally realigned to match the new market conditions” signals the holding company is watching closely — and wants results.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has vowed to go further on costs beyond the current 50,000 headcount reduction program, with domestic German plants under the microscope.
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