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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The world's best trading desk during the latter half of 2008 belonged to Porsche Automobil Holding, as the automaker made a 5.55 billion euro ($7.3 billion) profit over six months in large part by catching out those who bet against Volkswagen.
Porsche (DE:PAH003: news , chart , profile ) said in the six months to Jan. 31 its profit climbed to 5.55 billion euros from 1.26 billion euros. Gains from dealing in VW shares contributed 6.8 billion euros to the Stuttgart automaker's pretax profit of 7.3 billion euros.
Many traders got caught shorting Volkswagen (DE:VOW: news , chart , profile ) when Porsche announced it was looking to take three-quarters control of the group, a squeeze that briefly made Volkswagen the largest company in the world by market capitalization.
Billionaire Adolf Merckle committed suicide amid reports he lost 400 million euros by betting against VW. See archived story.
If VW had been fully consolidated -- Porsche's control of VW rose beyond 50% on Jan. 5. -- Porsche said it would have turned in a profit of about 7.6 billion euros on sales of 60 billion euros.
From the business of making cars, the 911 maker didn't enjoy quite as wonderful a performance: revenue fell 13% to 3.04 billion euros, and sales dropped 27% to 34,266 units.
Sales of the 911 fell 17%, while sales of the Cayenne sports utility vehicle fell 19%.
It also warned of an increased risk of disruptions to production by suppliers under pressure, though it's increasing the stock of components to prepare for that. And it said both Porsche and VW revenue and unit sales will fall below year-earlier levels due to the general decline of the automotive industry.
The group recently received a fresh 10 billion euro credit line from a host of banks and is looking to get a credit rating from two internationally recognized agencies. See story on loan refinancing.
Shares of Porsche dropped 4.4% and have dropped about 70% over the last 12 months.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank said they struggle to find out how Porsche will pay the interest on its 9 billion euro debt load when the group generates little cash.
"The rise in net debt is far more important to us, then once again higher non-cash earnings," they said. End of Story
Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.