Stuttgart - German sports carmaker Porsche reported Tuesday that its first-half profits rose more than threefold, mainly as a result of gains in Volkswagen shares.

The company said net profit for the first six months of the financial year ending in July climbed to 5.62 billion euros (7.41 billion dollars) from 1.3 billion euros a year ago.

At the same time sales declined by 27 per cent to 34,000 vehicles, causing turnover to plunge 12.08 per cent to 3.04 billion euros, the company said.

Porsche holds a 50 per cent stake in Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, and plans to increase the stake to 75 per cent this year.

Porsche's Volkswagen shares catapulted in value from 850 million euros to 6.84 billion euros during the first half of the business year.

The sports carmaker did not make any projections for the full business year, but said sales and turnover would be below the level of last year.