Porsche SE's falling debt and steady sportscar sales will lead to a narrower loss in fiscal 2010, the company said on Friday.
The Stuttgart-based maker of the 911 sportscar said it expects a loss of under 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for the year to the end of July, revising its previous forecast of a low single-digit-billion euro loss.
Porsche posted a 0.7 billion euros after-tax loss in the nine-months ending April, compared with a 4.2 billion euros profit in the same period a year earlier.
The auto maker said it continues to report a double-digit return on sales, helped by the launch of new models such as the four-door Panamera. Analysts at Credit Suisse estimate Porsche's margins to be "a very strong 13.3 percent."
Nine-month sales to the end of April at its sportscar business held nearly steady at 53,605 vehicles, while revenue climbed almost 12 percent to 5.2 billion euros, Porsche said.
"Operational performance of Porsche AG is mainly in line with our expectations. The fact that revenues outpace vehicle sales is clearly positive," DZ Bank analyst Michael Punzet wrote, keeping a "buy" rating.
Following a bungled takeover of Volkswagen AG, Porsche was forced to turn to VW for a bailout after amassing debts of more than 10 billion euros.
Porsche said Volkswagen had stepped in to inject 3.9 billion euros in Porsche Zwischenholding, the sportscar unit, helping reduce net debt at the Porsche SE group to 6 billion euros as of April 30.
Porsche reiterated it plans a capital increase in the first half of 2011, a key step toward a merger between Porsche SE and Volkswagen.
Porsche SE -- whose shares were up 1.4 pct vs a 1 percent rise in the European auto sector -- last year posted a 4.4 billion euro pretax loss for the 12 months to end-July, due to writedowns on its VW hedges, when it let the air out of their bloated valuation just prior to unloading the derivatives package to Qatar.
Separately Volkswagen said on Friday it expected group vehicle sales to grow by more than 5 percent in 2010, following unit sales of 6.3 million in 2009. Earlier this week VW said it expected to "significantly exceed" its 2009 operating profit in 2010.
