- EBITDA up 4% to 722 mln euros in first quarter
- Shipments down 157 units in planned model changeover
- Ferrari Luce EV to be unveiled later this month
MILAN, May 5 (Reuters) - Luxury sports car maker Ferrari on Tuesday stuck to its full year guidance after posting a modest first-quarter core earnings increase, sending its shares into reverse as it prepares to unveil its first fully electric model later this month.
Higher demand for personalisations - those touches customers request and pay for to make their cars more suited to their tastes, both inside and out - as well as sales of higher-priced models such as the F80 supercar supported the quarterly result.
But they were partly offset by unfavourable forex moves.
"Foreign exchange impact, net of currency hedges, resulted (in) a negative effect mainly due to the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen," the company said in a statement, adding U.S. tariffs also weighed.
SHARES TURN NEGATIVE
Milan-listed shares in Ferrari turned negative after the release of its first-quarter results and were down 1% by 1230 GMT.
Ferrari said its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 4% to 722 million euros ($844 million) in the January-March period, slightly topping a 705 million euro analyst consensus in a Reuters poll.
"With these results and an order book further extending towards the end of 2027, we confirm our 2026 guidance," CEO Benedetto Vigna said.
Full year forecasts, provided earlier this year, include one for an EBITDA of at least 2.93 billion euros.
'LUCE' EV TO BE PRESENTED
Ferrari deliveries fell by 157 units in the first quarter, to 3,436, but the company said this was a deliberate move to ease the execution of the planned model change-over.
"Total deliveries were not impacted by the surge of hostilities in the Middle East, as Ferrari leveraged its geographical allocation flexibility, bringing forward certain deliveries to other regions," it said.
Ferrari will display its first fully electric model, called Luce, in Rome in late May, the third and final step of a presentation process for the new vehicle.
The Luce, which will cost over 500,000 euros, is set to mark a milestone for a carmaker whose roaring petrol engines have long been its global trademark.
The Luce "is the evidence of how tradition and innovation can come together to create something unique," Vigna said.
($1 = 0.8557 euros)
Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, editing by Gianluca Semeraro, Alexander Smith and Keith Weir
Source: Reuters