The holding company Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PSE), which controls German automotive giant Volkswagen Group, has reduced its mountain of debt accumulated as a result of Porsche's initial public offering (IPO) by around €1 billion ($1.1 billion).
Net debt for the company stood at €5.7 billion at the end of last year, down from €6.7 billion at the end of 2022, the Stuttgart-based company announced on Thursday.
In the long term, the company plans to repay an annual amount in the mid three-digit million euro range. At the end of 2021, PSE still had €641 million in net liquidity.
The Porsche–Piëch family, descendants of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche, secured 25% plus one share of the ordinary shares via the Porsche SE holding company when the sports car manufacturer Porsche AG went public last year.
This gives the families a blocking minority in the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer. Porsche SE financed the purchase price of €10.1 billion with €7.1 billion euros in borrowed capital.
The rest was paid with the special dividend that the Volkswagen Group distributed to shareholders as part of the transaction. The family holds a major interest in the German auto giant.
Consolidated net profit after tax amounted to around €5.1 billion last year - around €400 million lower than in 2022.
However, without a special accounting effect from the purchase of VW preference shares in the previous year, consolidated net profit in 2023 would have been higher than in the previous year, it was reported.
