Seat Back In The Black After Five Years

Utz Claassen, finance chief and executive vice-president, said turnover had climbed 32 per cent to Pta 390.5 billion from Pta296 billion in the same period last year.

This meant the company was slightly ahead of its plans to break even in 1997.

But it still needed to wean itself off the financial support that VW had been providing to help offset restructuring costs.

Claassen said the return to profit had been possible only because of VW's help and the impact of a Pta46 billion aid package from the Spanish government and Catalan regional authorities, approved by the European Commission last autumn.

Seat now had to achieve positive results without external influence, he added.

Claassen is number two at the Spanish company under Juan Llorens, who comes to the end of his three-year contract as president in November.

A Seat board meeting in Braunschweig, Germany, on Thursday did not name a new chairman.

Claassen said the company had received the continuous and personal support of Ferdinand Pikch, the VW chairman.

He did not quantify the amount received from the German parent, but said it was substantially less than planned.

I think that the parent company rightly has the expectation that this support will reduce continuously, and eventually to zero, he said.

In the decade since Volkswagen took control, Seat has shown profit only for the years 1988-91.

Last year's loss was cut by 62 per cent to Pta11.29 billion.