BMW: profit excelent in trim I 2006 Options

[Robert]

Sursa: Bloomberg, 03 mai 2006


May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, said first-quarter earnings rose to a record on increased revenue from the new 3-Series sedan and proceeds from selling a holding in Rolls Royce Group Plc.
Net income rose 81 percent to 948 million euros ($1.2 billion), or 1.44 euros a share, from 525 million euros, or 78 cents, a year earlier, Munich-based BMW said in an e-mailed statement. Sales rose 12 percent to 11.6 billion euros. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected net income of 901 million euros.

Chief Executive Officer Helmut Panke, who failed to increase profit last year, has predicted a rebound, helped by a 375 million-euro gain from cutting BMW's stake in plane-engine maker Rolls-Royce. BMW in 2005 surpassed DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes- Benz unit in the luxury car market and has widened its lead since with a 14 percent gain in vehicle sales in the first quarter.

BMW expects ``earnings to increase in 2006 at an operating level excluding the exceptional gain from the exchangeable bond on Rolls-Royce Plc shares,'' Panke said in today's statement.

The German company cut its holding in London-based Rolls- Royce to 2.77 percent from 9.02 percent in two transactions in February and March in which it settled a bond issued in December 2003 and convertible into Rolls-Royce stock.
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Shares of BMW in Frankfurt are up 16 percent this year, exceeding the 12 percent increase in Germany's benchmark DAX Index and counter to a 0.1 percent decline in DaimlerChrysler stock.

DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes Car Group said April 27 that its loss in the quarter narrowed to 678 million euros from 954 million euros. The Mercedes-Benz brand's new vehicles include the R-Class, a mix of a sport-utility vehicle and station wagon, and the B-Class, a small van. DaimlerChrysler's overall earnings rose a smaller-than-expected 4 percent.

The BMW brand sold 283,297 units in the quarter, an 18 percent gain. Panke doesn't expect to sustain increases at that rate for the full year. Group sales, including Rolls-Royce Phantom and Mini models, increased 14 percent.

Profit growth at BMW last year stalled because of about 1 billion euros in extra costs stemming from more expensive raw materials and contracts to guard against currency shifts. BMW builds two-thirds of its vehicles in Germany, which has the second-highest labor costs in Europe after Denmark, and sells a quarter of them there.