Porsche on Friday revealed a €7.8bn gain from its contentious stake building at Volkswagen, letting its pre-tax profit soar at a time when the sports carmaker’s’competitors worldwide are struggling with a sharp downturn in the industry.

The German premium carmaker said its profit before tax jumped by 46 per cent to €8.57bn in the fiscal year 2007-08, which ended in July. That was far more than most analysts had expected, with most of them even betting on a slight decline.