PORSCHE EXPECTS IMPROVEMENT IN U.S. SALES
Sports carmaker Dr. Ing. H.C.F.
Porsche AG <PSHG.F> said it expects to post a satisfactory
profit in 1986/87, with domestic volume sales seen lower but
U.S. Sales anticipated higher.
    Managing board chairman Peter Schutz said domestic sales
were expected to fall to 9,000 in the year ending July 31 from
11,340 in 1985/86. U.S. Sales should rise to more than 30,000
from 28,670 last year.
    Schutz made no specific profit or sales forecasts. Last
month the company said it expected net profit to fall below 70
mln marks this year from 75.3 mln marks in 1985/86.
    For sales, Porsche expects its overall world volume this
year to be above 50,000. Sales last year stood at 53,254,
Schutz said. His expectations of a satisfactory profit were
based on a combination of price rises and cost-cutting, he
added.
    The expected drop in West German sales this year would be
the result of the so-called "grey market" for Porsche cars, he
said. When the dollar was strong against the mark, many
Porsches had been bought locally in West Germany for illegal
export to the U.S.
    Porsche has previously said domestic sales in the 1986/87
first half fell to 3,267 from 5,387 in the same 1985/86 period.
    The fact that U.S. Sales will account for a larger
percentage of overall sales this year than before does not pose
problems for profit, the Porsche board said.
    In the last 12 months it has raised U.S. Prices by around
20 pct without suffering any decline in sales. At the same time
Porsche has hedged its dollar-denominated business for the
1986/87 business year, finance director Heinz Branitzki.
    Branitzki put Porsche's hedging costs in 1985/86 at 28 mln
marks.
    In a speech to the annual meeting, Schutz said third-party
orders placed with Porsche's engineering research centre in
Weissach were rising and should top 100 mln marks this year for
the first time.
    Porsche's net profit dropped sharply to 75.3 mln marks in
1985/86 from 120.4 mln marks in 1984/85.
 REUTER
