| BMW income rises to US$1b |
| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-08-03 09:21 |
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Automaker BMW AG said yesterday that its second-quarter net profit climbed more than 17 percent as new models powered a healthy rise in sales.
The Munich-based company said it earned 787 million euros (US$1 billion), or 1.20 euros a share, in the April-June period. That compared with 670 million euros, or 90 euro cents a share, a year earlier.
The performance exceeded the forecast of analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires, who predicted a net profit of 684 million euros.
Sales rose 8 percent to 13.19 billion euros from 12.16 billion euros, with the new 3-Series sedan and station wagon models leading demand.
"We have again increased earnings sharply and achieved new record figures for revenues and sales volume," BMW's outgoing CEO Helmut Panke said in a statement.
Panke is set to end his highly successful four-year reign at BMW at the end of August, when he reaches BMW's upper age limit of 60 for senior executives.
Panke, who took over as CEO in May 2002, will be replaced by Norbert Reithofer, a BMW board member who oversees production.
Panke said the carmaker was on track to increase pretax profit through the end of 2006 to about 4 billion euros from the 3.3 billion euros it posted last year.
The expected increase includes the 350 million euro gain BMW received when it reduced its stake in aircraft-engine maker Rolls-Royce PLC in the first quarter.
BMW cautioned that high prices for raw materials like steel will affect the company - but not enough to slow growth.
The company said it surpassed its own records for quarterly and half-year vehicle sales. A total of 365,547 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand cars were sold from April to June - an increase of 3.2 percent from the same time last year.
That brought unit sales between January and June to 698,470, an increase of 8 percent from last year's first half.
In the second quarter, BMW sold 37,052 motorcycles, a 3 percent rise from a year earlier.
However, for the first six months, overall sales were down 2.1 percent, reflecting weaker sales during an exceptionally cold spell earlier in the year.
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