Porsche's strong 2021 operating margin bolsters IPO plans

Porsche’s operating margin rose last year, bolstering parent Volkswagen Group’s plan for a listing of the iconic sports-car brand.

Porsche reported an operating margin of 16.5 percent in 2021, up from 15.4 percent. This dwarfed VW, the group’s main mass-market brand, which reported 3.3 percent, excluding returns from the highly profitable Chinese venture.

VW is pushing ahead with plans for an initial public offering of Porsche during the fourth quarter, against a backdrop of highly volatile global markets limiting investor appetite.

Porsche's global vehicle sales rose 11 percent last year to 301,915, the first time the brand broke the 300,000 mark.

Last year, the Taycan battery-electric car outsold the iconic 911 for the first time with 41,296 globally sales, compared with 38,464 for the 911.

VW Group's finance chief, Arno Antlitz, said on Tuesday that the success of the Taycan showed that EVs can be profitable, encouraging the automaker to push ahead with the Porsche IPO.

Antlitz said Porsche's IPO could still happen as soon as the fourth quarter, despite current market uncertainties.

VW Group on Tuesday said it expected moderately higher global passenger car sales for this year, while still saying deliveries will stay below levels seen before the pandemic.

The forecast assumes the shortage of semiconductors and commodities will “become less intense,” VW said in its annual report.

The Porsche IPO is part of a deeper overhaul at VW to accelerate the industry’s biggest electric vehicle rollout that has gotten off to a bumpy start amid the pandemic and crippling chip shortage.

This month, the company finalized plans for a new $2.2 billion factory close to its sprawling headquarters in Wolfsburg, the same day that Tesla received a long-awaited approval to start its first European plant near Berlin.

The listing would see a stake of as much as 25 percent of preferred shares, which do not carry voting rights, sold to investors.

The billionaire Porsche and Piech clan, which control VW through voting shares, would receive a special dividend from VW to fund buying a blocking minority stake in Porsche.

Reuters contributed to this report