Porsche on Wednesday warned that it could suffer a pre-tax loss of up to €5bn ($7bn) in the financial year that ends this week, adding further fuel to the controversy over the €50m “golden parachute” paid to Wendelin Wiedeking, the sports car maker’s chief executive who was ousted last week.

The debt-ridden company said it was in “advanced talks” to sell a large package of options on Volkswagen shares. This transaction as well the full consolidation of VW on its balance sheet would trigger a “substantial” loss in the 12 months to the end of July 31, the company warned.