The car manufacturer BMW increased sales and operating profit significantly last year. At 12.2 billion euros, profit after taxes remained a third below the record profit of the previous year, which was characterized by the takeover of the Chinese joint venture BBA. CEO Oliver Zipse said on Thursday in Munich: “We have achieved strong growth, noticeably increasing the proportion of our fully electric vehicles and at the same time increasing operational profitability.”
BMW achieved record sales last year with 2.55 million cars and increased group sales by nine percent to 155.5 billion euros. A higher proportion of upper class and luxury cars also contributed to this. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by a third to 18.5 billion euros. The operating margin in the core business rose from 8.6 to 9.8 percent – that is, out of every 100 euros in sales, 9.80 euros remained an operating profit. The group’s research and development costs rose by 14 percent to 7.5 billion euros, reaching a new high. BMW is currently preparing for a new generation of vehicles with fully electric drive, the so-called “New Class”.
Investments rose by 8.5 percent to 8.8 billion euros. Headwind came from the lending and leasing business: the contract portfolio fell, interest costs rose and the resale value of lease returns was slightly lower. The pre-tax result of the financial services segment shrank by almost eight percent to just under three billion euros. “The development towards less positive marketing revenue for used cars is expected to continue in 2024,” said BMW.
The bottom line is that the DAX group generates a surplus of 12.165 billion euros. In the previous year, the revaluation of the BBA shares amounting to 7.7 billion euros had significantly increased the financial result and the consolidated profit. Without this one-off effect, the consolidated profit for 2023 would be “moderately above the previous year’s value,” emphasized BMW. The board of directors wants to pay out six euros per ordinary share as a dividend. That is 2.50 euros below the record value of the previous year, but is slightly more than experts expected. The share fell almost two percent after the business figures were published on Thursday afternoon.
The BMW board wants to present the entire balance sheet figures and an outlook for the current year next Thursday. The Stuttgart competitor Mercedes-Benz has already presented its balance sheet: sales rose by two percent to 153 billion euros, the operating result fell by four percent to 19.7 billion euros, and profits fell by two percent to 14.5 billion euros. For the current year, Mercedes-Benz expects sales to be at the previous year’s level and earnings slightly lower.