Carmaker Ferrari headed for record year

Italian sportscar maker Ferrari said Tuesday it was headed for a record net profit this year after posting its best-ever quarterly results.

"A record second quarter, on the way to another record year," the luxury automaker said in a brief statement.

Net profit grew 29 percent in the three months to June to 97 million euros ($88.6 million) on sales of 811 million euros, up 5.9 percent.

The results beat forecasts by analysts who had been looking for net profit of 85 million euros and sales of 785 million, according to consensus data compiled by Factset.

Ferrari delivered 2,214 cars in the second quarter, up eight percent from the year-earlier period.

Unit sales to China alone rose by 26 percent, to 160.

Ferrari is now looking to sell more than 8,000 vehicles over the full year and to generate sales of more than three billion euros.

Ferrari shares, which had been trading lower in Milan ahead of the announcement, were up 1.7 percent at 41.17 euros in late afternoon, bucking a sharply weaker overall market trend.