Luxury car maker Porsche may ditch its listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, its chief executive has told a German newspaper.

His remarks are the latest shot in a battle with Deutsche Boerse, the company that runs the Frankfurt bourse, over its requirement for listed firms to publish quarterly financial statements.

The Frankfurt bourse removed Porsche from its MDAX index of mid-sized companies in September because of the car marker's refusal to comply with the rule.

"But I don't have any problem with not being listed in Frankfurt at all", Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Profitable

Although Porsche is a small player in the global auto market, it is the world's most profitable car firm by some yardsticks.

Porsche unveiled a 10% jump in half year profits in January, while bigger car makers like Ford were reporting losses and piling up layoffs.

Mr Wiedeking argues that quarterly earnings statements would presented a distorted picture of Porsche's business cycle.

He told the Frankfurter Allgemeine the firm just wants to keep its official listing in Stuttgart, a minor stock market in Germany.

Heading for New York?

And he was dismissive about the prospect of inclusion in the Frankfurt exchange's blue-chip DAX index, which some analysts view as a possibility.

"Let's not elevate the DAX too much...This construction of Deutsche Boerse's isn't really as interesting as all that. We're not going to go crazy over that."

Porsche has previously said it was considering listing in New York, where it would not need to file quarterly reports for a secondary listing.

Mr Wiedeking reportedly said on a visit to Singapore last week that a final decision would be made in the second half of this year, and that January 2003 was seen as a possible date for a New York debut.

Sales hold pace

The luxury car maker has said it does not expect any damage to its biggest market, the United States, in the wake of the 11 September attacks and forecast its full year profits would at least match the previous year.

Porsche sold 23,370 cars in the six months to 31 January.

Sales were worth 6% more than year-earlier, at 1.83bn euros ($1.6bn; �1.11bn).

The firm posted pre-tax profit in the six months of 154m euros ($135.8m, �94.5m), or 10%.

Porsche's robust profits performance contrasts with that the major players. Ford lost more than $5bn in the last three months of 2001, while General Motors' profits dropped by two thirds.