Porsche has announced the highest profit in its corporate history during the 2003/04 fiscal year, which closed on July 31.

The group's pre-tax profit was €1,088 billion (£762.8bn), up 16.6% on the previous year’s €933m (£654m). The group's after-tax result was increased by 8.3% to €612m (£429m), compared with €565m (£396m) for the previous year.

The extension of Porsche products with the Cayenne SUV helped group sales rise by 15% to 76,827 vehicles, and turnover by 13.9% to €6.36bn (£4.46bn).

In contrast to the group figure, pre-tax results for Porsche AG were down 19.1%, to €843m) (£591m) compared with €1,042bn (£730bn) in the previous fiscal year.

Porsche's surplus for the year amounted to €488m (£342m), compared with €660m (£462m) in the previous year (a drop of 26.1%).