BERLIN (Reuters) -Porsche SE, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder, plans to expand its investments and diversify its holdings, it said on Wednesday, after reporting a 20-billion-euro ($21.57 billion) after-tax loss because of impairments on its holding of Europe’s top carmaker.
The board proposed a lower dividend of 1.91 euros per preference share, down from 2.56 euros last year, attributed to the lower dividend inflow from Volkswagen, which reported a 15% drop in operating profits last year.
“We are continuously screening promising investment opportunities, in both the portfolio segment as well as for potential new core investments,” Lutz Meschke, board of management member responsible for investment management and former chief financial officer of Porsche AG, said. “We also have the financial capacity to make larger investments.”
The holding company, which is controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, said that the programmes underway at Volkswagen and Porsche to cut costs had significant potential to boost profitability but that the companies needed to focus on “rigorous implementation.”
German tabloid Bild reported earlier in March that the Porsche and Piech families which jointly control Porsche SE were considering divesting shares in Volkswagen to free up capital for other investments.
Porsche SE at the time said there were no concrete considerations to do so.
($1 = 0.9273 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Rachel More and Tomasz Janowski)
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