Porsche SE's 11.4 billion euros ($17.2 billion) of debt will be mostly eliminated after the sports-car maker completes its merger with Volkswagen AG, said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive officer of both companies.
"By the time the merger is done, the level of more or less zero will certainly be reached," Winterkorn said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Volkswagen and Porsche agreed in August to merge, ending a four-year feud for control. The accord was reached after debt at Porsche tripled to more than 10 billion euros in six months following the company's failed takeover of VW.
Deliveries by VW this year will "slightly exceed" the record level of 6.23 million vehicles for 2008, the CEO said in Stuttgart, Germany. Porsche will sell more than 76,000 cars in the current fiscal year, he said.
Porsche, the maker of the 911 sports car and Cayenne Sport- utility vehicle, said today that an increase in orders may signal a turnaround in 2010 even after sales slid last quarter. Even so, the next few months will be "very difficult," according to Michael Macht, CEO of the automotive unit.
"It seems as if demand for Porsche vehicles is slowly reviving," Macht said at a press conference.
The automaker posted a net loss of 2.52 billion euros for the 12 months through July 31, its first annual deficit since 1994, after writing down the value of options on VW shares. Sales continued to decline in the fiscal first quarter, while orders jumped 25 percent to 20,000 vehicles.
Porsche Tentative
"Our business will remain very difficult in the coming months," Macht said. "However, I'm cautiously optimistic on the outlook for 2010."
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