Family business roundup: Porsche SE, BMW, Henkel post gains, mixed results at Fiat and AB InBev

Second-quarter and half-year 2012 results this week yielded highs and lows for family businesses as Porsche SE and BMW reported major gains while Loews and Saputo saw profits fall. A number of family businesses, meanwhile, had mixed results, with Fiat posting healthy profits amidst declining sales in Europe and Anheuser-Busch InBev reporting increased revenues for the half year despite a decrease in sales volume.

Ahead of Porsche and Volkswagen's long-awaited merger on 1 August, Porsche SE, the holding company controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, posted a profit of €1.15 billion in the first six months of 2012, up 672% from €149 million for the same period in 2011. Revenues for the first half of the year increased by 29.3% to €6.76 billion.

German carmaker BMW, controlled by the Quandt family, likewise reported record revenues for the second quarter and half year. Quarterly revenues rose by 7.3% to €19.2 billion, from €17.8 billion in 2011. Half-year revenues were up 10.5% to €37.5 billion, from €33.9 billion.

Italian carmaker Fiat’s healthy revenue gains for the quarter and half year, however, came mainly from the strong performance of Chrysler in North America and Asia-Pacific, offsetting the continued weakness of its European operations. The business, chaired by family member John Elkann, credited its trading profit of €1 billion for the second quarter to Chrysler’s strong showing.

Revenues for the quarter to 30 June were €21.5 billion, up 63.5% from €13.15 billion in the same period last year. Half-yearly revenues for the Agnelli-controlled company were also up 86.7% to €41.74 billion from €22.36 billion in 2011. But, excluding Chrysler, revenues for the second quarter were €9.2 billion, a decrease of 7.5% over the same period in 2011. This reflected lower sales volumes in Europe, where “difficult trading conditions” continued as a result of the economic climate, the company said in a 31 July statement. However, last year's figures only included Chrysler from 1 June 2011.

Family-controlled AB InBev, which was created in 2008 following the merger of Belgium’s beer group Interbrew with Brazilian brewery AmBev, likewise saw its revenues fall partly because of lower sales volumes. Revenues for the second quarter were down 4.7% to €9.87 billion, on the back of a 0.1% fall in sales volumes. Revenues for the first six months of 2012, however, increased by 5.4%, to €19.20 billion from €18.96 billion.

Canadian dairy company Saputo, run by the eponymous family, saw a 3.6% increase in quarterly revenues, to Can$1.7 billion (€1.37 billion) in the three months ending June 30, from Can$1.64 billion in the same period in 2011. Net earnings, however, were down 3.8% for the quarter to Can$121.8 million in 2012, from Can$126.6 million in 2011. Saputo blamed lower cheese prices in the US.

Net income for the American holding company Loews, run by the Tisch family, dropped to $56 million (€45.4 million) for the second quarter of 2012, from $250 million in the same period last year due to an impairment charge, an adjustment in the company’s goodwill value as a result of a decline in natural gas prices.

The week was upbeat however for the German manufacturer Henkel, run by the family of the same name. Sales for the second quarter rose 6.4% to €4.2 billion and adjusted operating profit increased by 18.6% to €609 million. Emerging markets were the “primary success drivers” of this growth, the company said in a statement on 1 August.