STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - The sports car manufacturer Porsche has surprisingly had to lower its forecasts due to flood damage at an aluminum supplier. The carmaker, which is part of the VW Group, is now only expecting sales of between 39 and 40 billion euros. Previously, the Porsche management around CEO Oliver Blume had planned a profit of between 40 and 42 billion euros. The operating return on sales is now expected to be between 14 and 15 percent - previously Porsche had targeted an operating margin of between 15 and 17 percent.
The supply bottlenecks are the result of the flooding of a production facility of an important European aluminum supplier. "This affects body components made of aluminum, which are used in all vehicle series produced by Porsche," the company announced. "Despite immediate countermeasures, it is becoming apparent that the impending supply bottlenecks will lead to disruptions in production."
"These are expected to last several weeks and may lead to production stoppages of individual or several vehicle series," it said. It is to be expected that the resulting delays in production and in the delivery of vehicles cannot be fully compensated for in the further course of the financial year. Porsche plans to publish its figures for the first six months this Thursday (July 24). Analysts had previously assumed that Porsche would be able to meet its targets for 2024 despite the current problems in the important Chinese market./zb/men
