The third quarter of 2022 saw German high-end carmaker BMW reporting a rise in profits and sales despite weak margins and slight dip in car deliveries, according to results released on Thursday.
Looking ahead, the company maintained its fiscal 2022 forecast for significantly higher earnings and slightly lower sales with weak deliveries.
In Germany, BMW shares were losing around 4% in the morning trading.
BMW chief financial officer Nicolas Peter said: “As a global premium manufacturer, we are benefiting now more than ever from our balanced positioning in the three major regions of the world: Europe, the Americas and Asia.”
“Overall, we expect the positive momentum for our company to continue in 2023. Our attractive products and growing demand for e-mobility make us optimistic about the future,” he said.
For the full year 2022, the company continues to expect Group pre-tax earnings to be significantly higher, due to the full consolidation of Chinese joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. Or BBA.
BMW still targets slightly lower sales overall than last year, although sales of fully-electric vehicles should double.
The company also projects slight decrease in deliveries compared to the previous year.
The EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin for the Automotive Segment is still forecast to be within the range of 7% to 9%.
In the fourth quarter, the company projects the number of deliveries to increase significantly on a sequential basis.
The company does not currently expect energy supply shortages to disrupt production this year.
In the Motorcycles Segment, a slight increase in deliveries is projected for the full year, and the EBIT margin is likely to be within the target range of 8% to 10%.
In the month of September, BMW Group reported solid sales growth of 6.6%, with 210,543 vehicles delivered to customers.
In its third quarter, Group net profit climbed 23% to €3.18 billion from last year’s €2.58 billion.
Group EBT amounted to €4.10 billion, up 20% from last year.
Meanwhile, Group EBT margin fell to 11% from 12.4% a year ago.
BMW Group’s revenues reached €37.18 billion, up 35.3% from €27.47 billion a year ago.
The strong results reflected solid pricing for new and used cars, a favorable product mix and, mainly revenues from BBA.
Automotive deliveries edged down 0.9% from last year to 587,744 vehicles. Automotive Segment revenues increased 42.7% to €32.29 billion.
The Motorcycles Segment delivered 51,778 motorcycles and scooters to customers, up 5.7%. Revenues grew 28.2%.
In the first nine months, BMW Group delivered a total of 1.75 million vehicles, down 9.5% from last year, amid the impact of global disruption to supply chains and COVID lockdowns in China.
In Germany, BMW shares were trading at €77.23, down 3.75%.
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