April - June

Porsche’s stock exchange success storyPreferred stock’s price has risen dramatically since the company went public 20 years ago

Stuttgart. May 4 marks the 20th anniversary of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG’s, public stock offering. The sports car manufacturer’s preferred stock became available to investors in spring 1984 and was immediately in demand. Porsche stock has become popular over the years, and the group of shareholders is now larger and increasingly international. The stock was quoted at 1,020 DM on May 4, 1984. When converted to Euro and revalued according to the share split of three years ago, that figure is roughly the equivalent of 50 Euro. The stock exchange quotation today is approximately 520 Euro. Therefore, the stock price has increased more than ten times since the issue date.

In particular, when Porsche launched the Boxster in 1996, the stock became a favorite of investors and analysts. Stockbrokers appreciated the company’s climbing profitability, which resulted from the restructuring of processes and the introduction of new, attractive products. Since the beginning of the current 2003/04 fiscal year, which ends July 31, the sports car manufacturer’s stock quotation has risen more strongly than the DAX and the German automobile sector index.

Porsche has received various awards for the exceptional growth of its stock value from institutions such as Automotive News Europe magazine, the PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing company and the Standard & Poor’s rating agency. Only a few days ago PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed that, at 119.9 percent, Porsche stock achieved by far the highest total shareholder return (according to stock exchange profits including dividend payments) of any European car manufacturer in the three years between of March 31, 2001 and of March 31, 2004.

Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche AG’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “In particular if we take a long-term view, our stock performs extremely well. Porsche’s thinking has never been based on the short term, from one quarter to the next. We have grown steadily, in terms of both sales and profit. The stock exchange has acknowledged this strategy as correct, and we are working hard to maintain Porsche’s successful progress.”

For reasons of principle, the company never publishes quarterly reports. However, the practice has not reflected negatively on share price. Though Porsche questions the value of quarterly reporting, it nonetheless supplies the financial markets with a continuous, substantial flow of information.

“We are particularly pleased that the European Finance Ministers and the European Parliament recently decided not to make quarterly company reports obligatory,” said Wiedeking. “We would like to see more other companies take a critical line on these reports. After all, frequent balance-sheet scandals in recent times have shown that their apparent clarity and vague promises do more harm than good as far as investors are concerned.”

In addition to the stock, two Porsche bonds are available on the capital market, with a total volume of some 560 million Euro. In March 2004, Porsche issued a 625 million US-Dollar private placement in the USA, which will further secure the company’s already excellent financial base for years to come.

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06.05.2004