WirtschaftsWoche reported that Porsche was seriously considering the option of breaking up Europe’s biggest car maker into individual companies.
“That is absolute rubbish. There are no such plans. That is the thinking of hedge funds, not of Porsche,” said a company spokesman on Saturday.
Porsche may boost its stake in VW to a majority after a German law that capped its voting rights was recently struck down.
In a setback to VW workers, a court last week also let Porsche create a new European holding company, Porsche Automobil Holdings , into which Porsche plans to put its VW stake.
VW labour leaders are trying to get more influence at Porsche Automobil in case Porsche raises its shareholding.
The dispute has triggered a rare public split between the works council heads at VW and Porsche. But the Porsche spokesman said that Uwe Hueck, of Porsche, and Bernd Osterloh, of VW, planned to meet on Tuesday to set aside their differences.
On Friday Volkswagen posted strong third-quarter results and restated a record full-year sales target as Chinese and South American growth offset slumping turnover at home and in the US.
With the Porsche takeover widely expected in the coming months, VW said it was on track to sell 6 -million vehicles this year despite disappointing results in two key markets.
The biggest European car maker also said it would attain its 2008 pretax profit target of at least € 5,1bn a year ahead of schedule.
At the end of last month the car maker had already reached € 4,7bn , a statement said.
Third-quarter operating profit before exceptional items jumped 53,3% to € 1,46bn , beating analysts’ forecasts.
The group’s figures from the same period a year earlier had been sharply reduced by € 668m in restructuring charges and other one-off items, however.
Net profit surged to € 947m from just € 23m in the same period a year earlier.
Chief financial officer Hans Dieter Poetsch said that VW was “well on track to achieve and sustain a new level of profitability going forward”.
Shares in the group leapt higher after initially slipping on concern over weak domestic sales and high energy costs.
VW’s share price ended trade on Friday with a gain of 4,18% to € 181,80. The DAX index of leading shares was 0,21% stronger overall at 7949,17 points.
In the group’s crucial domestic market, sales decreased 6% in the third quarter, as the sector continued to feel the effects of a January increase in value-added tax from 16%-19%.
The car maker said North American sales would also be lower than last year.
That, together with weak results from the recovering Spanish car unit Seat and a warnings about high energy costs, had weighed on the stock earlier on Friday.
But overall third-quarter sales grew 3,8% to € 26,1bn, VW said.
The group’s luxury car unit Audi contributed the strongest results, but VW vehicles also sold well, as did the Skoda, Lamborghini and Bentley brands.
VW said that while the outlook remained cloudy in Germany, Spain and the US “markets in China and South America will continue to record high growth rates”. The company’s nine-month net profit came to € 2,906bn , up 71% .
Sales for the January to September period grew 5,1% to R769bn as the car maker delivered 4,6-million vehicles.
The company’s health makes it an enticing target for Porsche, which won the court case last Tuesday, allowing it to tighten its grip on the much bigger VW. The ruling underpinned Porsche’s claim to full voting rights and raised the odds of a takeover bid.
