Grupul Financiar Porsche (Porsche Financial Group), one of the domestic companies specialising in car funding, posted a 33.3 million-RON (9.5 million-euro) profit, up by 52% against 2005.

The four divisions of Grupul Financiar Porsche - leasing, banking, insurance brokerage and fleet management - together posted a 58.6 million-euro turnover, an increase of 38%.

"We managed to hit our targets by financing around half of the cars imported by Porsche Romania, and providing insurance for almost all the cars through our specialist company," stated Peter Demmer, chief executive of Grupul Financiar Porsche Romania.

The assets of Grupul Financiar Porsche totalled 1.54 billion RON (439 million euros) last year, 25% more than in 2005, while the number of vehicles funded by the group increased by 24%, to a figure of 19,759.

"In 2007, we expect to see a profit in all our lines of business, as well as limit expenses and invest in growth opportunities," added Demmer.

In 2006, the leasing division of the Porsche group made a 29 million-RON (8.23 million-euro) profit, and generated a 176.7 million-RON (50 million-euro) turnover. Porsche Leasing saw total assets worth 1.3 billion euros last year, up 24% against the previous year, with funding for the Volkswagen group (VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley) by means of financial leasing being the main product of the company on the local market.

Porsche Bank, the only player on the Romanian banking market specialising in the funding of cars, saw total assets worth 199.8 million RON (56.6 million euros) in 2006, 44% more than in the previous year. The banking division of the group granted over 1,000 credits, in total worth 98.8 million RON last year, while revenues from interests stood at 8.8 million RON. Funding for the dealer network of Porsche Bank stood at 57.8 million RON, 34.4