Porsche profit up on windfall

Porsche SE landed a 6.8 billion euro windfall from its share options in Volkswagen during the first half, lifting the company's pretax profit to more than twice its revenue.

The European automotive group said yesterday that earnings before tax rose to 7.3 billion euros in the six months to end-January, easily surpassing the average estimate of 3.65 billion euros from a Reuters poll of 11 analysts.

Volkswagen's pro-rata earnings contribution to Porsche fell to 444 million euros from 484 million euros a year ago.