Shareholders in the Lead with Porsche StockAutomotive News Europe and PricewaterhouseCoopers Present Awards to Sports Car Manufacturer
Stuttgart. Over the last few years, shareholders of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, have fared better than shareholders of all other European car makers. Highlighting this development, "Automotive News Europe", the specialist car journal, and "PricewaterhouseCoopers", the US auditing company, have once again presented their awards to the German manufacturer of sports cars. On the occasion of a festive ceremony in Montreux, Por-sche's Head of Investor Relations, Manfred Ayasse, took receipt of the awards for the highest "Total Shareholder Return" on behalf of Porsche AG.
A truly exceptional point is that the company received two awards on the same occasion, acknowledging the fact that Porsche preferred stock shows the best development of value over a period of both three years and one year: In the period from 31 May 2001 until 31 May 2004 considered in the study an investment in Porsche stock – including reinvested dividend payments – showed overall growth of 57 per cent. By comparison, the index of all European car stocks showed an overall loss in value over the same period of 18 per cent. From 31 May 2003 to 31 May 2004, in turn, Porsche shareholders benefited from an increase in value by 73 per cent, while the index of other European car stocks was up by only 34 per cent.
In the words of "Automotive News Europe" and "PricewaterhouseCoopers" the outstanding development of Por-sche stock reflects the success of the Cayenne in the market. Further highlights given particular emphasis were Porsche's attractive range of sports cars and Porsche's far-sighted policy of currency hedging.
The performance of Porsche stock was also an essential criteria for another honouring Porsche has received recently: In its annual ranking of the 50 best European companies now compiled for the second time, Business Week, the renowned US business and financial journal, has rated Porsche as the No. 1 performer.
Business Week was impressed in particular by Porsche's consistent focus on customer wishes and the resulting economic success of the company duly expressed by a corresponding increase in profits and positive develop-ment of Porsche stock value. In the words of Business Week, Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, the President and CEO of the company, has clearly proven that small companies could also be "wonderful" in an industrial environment in which people tend to look primarily at size, while profits are often weak.
GO 2004-06-29
No. 95/04
30.06.2004