The FINANCIAL — After a strong first-half year performance, business continued to prosper for the BMW Group throughout the third quarter 2011.
Our sales volumes developed positively and in line with expectations, despite some dark clouds on the economic horizon. The BMW Group also remained on track in terms of both revenues and earnings.
Strong sales volume performance in third quarter – Worldwide sales of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars grew dynamically again in the third quarter 2011. Boosted by our young range of products, we were again able to maintain our strong position on international car markets. During the period from July to September, the number of cars sold worldwide by the BMW Group rose by 9.0% to 399,218 units. Sales volume for the nine-month period from January to September 2011 totalled 1,232,584 units and was thus 16.0% higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. The new BMW 5 Series asserted its lead in the upper medium segment and continued to be a key driver of sales performance worldwide. The BMW X5 is also enjoying great popularity and continues to lead its segment.
Motorcycles business also continued to perform well. In total, 28,862 BMW and Husqvarna brand motorcycles were sold during the third quarter, 6.5% up on the previous year. Sales volume for the nine-month period increased by 4.7% to 99,972 units.
The Financial Services segment also saw dynamic growth, thus making an important contribution to the BMW Group's strong performance. The number of new contracts signed in the credit financing and leasing lines of business during the first nine months of the year rose by 10.0% to 882,961 units. A portfolio of 3,303,635 contracts was in place with dealers and retail customers at 30 September 2011 (+5.1%).
Revenues and earnings well up – The BMW Group's strong business performance is also reflected in revenues and earnings. Third-quarter revenues rose by 3.8% to euro 16,547 million, while revenues for the nine-month period increased to euro 50,472 million.
At euro 1,716 million, the profit before financial result was euro 524 million up on the previous year. EBIT for the nine-month period jumped to euro 6,474 million.
Group profit before tax also greatly improved, rising to euro 1,644 million for the third quarter and to euro 6,160 million for the nine-month period .
Net profits for the third quarter and nine-month period were euro 1,082 million and euro 4,103 million respectively.
BMW Group's outlook for the remainder of 2011 – We expect macro-economic conditions to remain generally stable for the remainder of 2011. Although the pace of growth on international car markets is currently showing signs of slackening, the BMW Group's performance will remain positively on track. The Group profit before tax is set to improve significantly compared to the previous year, reflecting strong demand for our vehicles and services worldwide on the one hand and our favourable position in terms of selling prices on the other.
The Strategy Number ONE continues to be an important mainstay of the company's success. We are creating the basis for profitable growth by investing in innovative technologies. The use of finely-tuned and coordinated measures, for instance, has enabled us to reduce fuel consumption considerably and hence the volume of emissions produced by our combustion engines. Efficient Dynamics technology was developed from the outset to become a standard feature of our vehicles and is used throughout our fleet to reduce CO2 emissions.
Connected Drive – which aims to connect car occupants, the vehicle and the outside world with each other – has become a further major focus for us as we strive to develop forward- looking technologies. These innovations increase levels of safety for all road users, offer greater convenience and create new user-friendly options for receiving information and entertainment within the vehicle. At the same time, we are also expanding our field trials with a test fleet of more than 1,000 all-electric powered BMW ActiveE vehicles to test whether the mass production of electric vehicles is feasible.
Drive components and energy storage systems for the series development of the BMW i3 are being tested in the ActiveE. The BMW i3 is due to come onto the market in 2013 as the BMW Group's first electric car series for use in the world's major metropolitan regions. It will be followed by the BMW i8 with its plug-in hybrid engine, which will combine the dynamic flair of a sports car with the consumption of a compact car.
Automobiles segment – After bringing numerous vehicle innovations onto the market during the first six months of the year, we continued to launch new models throughout the second half of the year. The new 6 Series Coupé has been available, for instance, since the autumn. In addition, the next generation of the successful 1 Series was launched onto the markets alongside the MINI Coupé during the second half of the year. As a consequence, we now have one of the youngest product portfolios in the sector.
In view of the current healthy state of the automobile economy and our range of attractive models, we forecast that earnings and business as a whole will continue to develop very positively. For the full year, sales of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles are forecast to increase by over 10% to a figure in excess of 1.6 million vehicles. We also expect to achieve an EBIT margin of over 10% in the Automobiles segment. A forecast return on capital employed (RoCE) of over 26% remains the target for 2011.
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