Porsche is the world's most profitable carmaker

The firm is to up its annual dividend by one euro to 6.94 euros ($10; �4.89) per common share, and pay a one-off special dividend of 15 euros per share.

The move comes after Porsche more than doubled its annual pre-tax profits to 5.85bn euros from 2.110bn euros.

Strong demand for sports cars in Europe and Asia has boosted its fortunes.

'Positive'

The firm also benefited from a strong financial performance from fellow carmaker VW, in which it holds a 27% stake.

Porsche plans to boost its stake to 31% and although it has insisted that it doesn't want to take control of VW, most experts believe this will be the eventual outcome.

Porsche's share of VW's profits totalled 702.4m euros in the past financial year.

Porsche has reassessed the value of its VW stake and, as a result, added a one-off positive charge to its accounts of 520.8m euros.

"A particularly positive point is the development of Porsche's core business, which, is up from the previous year's level," the company said in a statement.