Porsche 2011 Annual Report Download - page 129

exercising its authority and making corresponding
interventions: the aim is to prevent the exchange rate
of the Swiss franc from falling below 1.20 euro again.
It remains to be seen whether this can be sustained.
Interest rate developments
The turnaround in the interest rate, initiated in
April 2011 with the increase of the base rate in the
euro zone, had to be revoked in November 2011. The
debt crisis is setting the course for the European
Central Bank. It is therefore highly unlikely that inter-
est rates will rise in the foreseeable future. As long as
inflation is within the desired range and there are no
signs of an acceleration, interest rates will remain at
their historic low.
Commodity price developments
Commodity prices correlate strongly with
growth expectations, and these are cautious for 2012.
However, in the particular case of commodities, there
are additional influencing factors. Aluminum provides
a good example of the balancing act involved in pric-
ing. On the one hand, inventories were at a record
high at the end of 2011. On the other hand, the mar-
ket price at 2,000 US dollars per metric ton was
lower than the manufacturing cost. This resulted in a
reduction of production in order to create a shortage
of supply. If there really was a marked slump in
growth now, this would result in price pressure.
Prospects on the automotive markets
Overall, the global automobile market will
continue to grow slightly in 2012. However, growth is
likely to be mainly in Asia and in the USA – and even
there, with moderate growth rates. Russia and Brazil
are also likely to demonstrate a positive trend with a
slight increase in sales. The western European market,
however, will continue to be influenced by the debt
crisis, in particular of the southern member countries
of the euro zone. In the best case scenario, new
vehicle registrations in western Europe may experi-
ence only a slight decrease overall in 2012. The
German Association of the Automobile Industry (VDA)
expects the market volume in the most important
individual market, Germany, to be on a par with the
prior year, when around 3.1 million vehicles were
registered.
Anticipated development of significant
investments
The Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH group
expects that sales and revenue will continue to grow
in the fiscal year 2012 and 2013 in comparison to
the reporting year 2011. However, the decreasing
growth rate in the global economy and the continuing
debt crisis in the euro zone could restrict growth and
the high planned growth rates, in particular for the
fiscal year 2012. Nevertheless, on the basis of the
above-average level of orders on hand, the Porsche
Zwischenholding GmbH group expects higher sales
and revenue in the fiscal year 2012 than in the fiscal
year 2011. On the one hand, this growth is likely to
be fueled by continued high demand for Porsche
vehicles in China and other emerging markets. On the
other hand, the Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH
group expects its attractive product range to fuel
further growth in demand in the main markets of
Europe and North America.
In the next two fiscal years, this development
and the high competitiveness of the Porsche Zwi-
schenholding GmbH group and the Porsche brand
should have a positive impact on revenue and on
income from ordinary activities, as well as on cash
flow from operating activities. The group plans to
further increase sales and revenue for the coming two
years and to maintain the return on sales of at least
15 percent.
Porsche and Volkswagen are working flat out
on optimizing cooperation between the two compa-
nies. On the basis of clearly defined processes, co-
operation between the two companies is being driven
forward at all levels. In all areas, joint project teams
are now well on the way to leveraging the potential
synergies that have been identified.
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