By Giulio Piovaccari and Keith Weir
MILAN (Reuters) -Luxury sports carmaker Ferrari posted a better-than-expected 5% increase in third-quarter core earnings on Tuesday, with pricier models in its SF90 XX and 12Cilindri family helping to offset the impact of U.S. import tariffs.
Increased personalisations – finishing touches that come at an extra cost – also contributed to the result, the company said, while vehicle shipments were up only 0.5% in the quarter.
“This pricing power is not coming because we will just increase the price of the same product as it is. No, we will make richer and richer, more and more innovative products,” CEO Benedetto Vigna told analysts.
FERRARI SHARES GET A LIFT
Ferrari’s Milan-listed shares were up 3.1% by 1600 GMT, recovering some of the ground lost since a poorly received long-term business plan presented last month.
Ferrari has a market capitalisation of around 67 billion euros ($78.14 billion), the highest among European automakers.
Chief Financial Officer Antonio Picca Piccon said margins had been affected as most of the cars the company shipped to the U.S were not among those models covered by price increases Ferrari introduced earlier this year in response to tariffs on European auto imports.
“These resulted in a margin dilution at constant currency, particularly visible in the third quarter,” he said.
The company in April announced price increases of up to 10% on some models in the U.S. due to 27.5% tariffs. But on Tuesday it said those hikes were trimmed to a maximum of 5% as the import levy on European products was later reduced to 15%.
“In the U.S. the business proceeds as usual,” Vigna said.
Analysts at Jefferies said a 5.1% increase in Ferrari vehicles’ average selling price supported the company’s result in the quarter, despite a slowdown in the deliveries of its Daytona special series model and ahead of first shipments of its new F80.
AFFIRMS 2025 EARNINGS FORECASTS
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to 670 million euros in the July-September period, above a 649 million-euro consensus in a Reuters poll.
The Italian company also confirmed its full-year forecasts, which it slightly improved last month when it presented its business plan, including for adjusted EBITDA of at least 2.72 billion euros in 2025.
Before Tuesday’s rebound, Ferrari shares had lost nearly a fifth of their value since its October 9 capital markets day, on disappointment over its long-term financial targets, which were seen as too conservative.
Last month Ferrari also unveiled technology which will power its much-awaited first electric car, as the 78-year-old automaker looks to add battery power to its hybrid and petrol-engine models.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan and Keith Weir in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
