MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - German luxury car giant Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or BMW Group (BAMXY.PK, BAMXF.PK, BMW.L) Tuesday reported about 11 percent increase in its first-quarter profit, as revenues grew, with sales volume gains in all major regions. The Group also reaffirmed its outlook for full year 2014.
According to the company, strong demand for BMW Group vehicles had a positive impact on Automotive segment's revenues and earnings in the period.
Total number of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles delivered to customers in the three-month period climbed 8.7 percent to 487,024 units from 448,200 units in the year-ago quarter.
BMW brand worldwide sales climbed 12.3 percent to 428,259 units, while sales of MINI vehicles declined 12.5 percent to 57,868 units. The company delivered 897 Rolls-Royce cars in the quarter, up 39.7 percent from the year 2013.
In Europe, sales rose 3.4 percent, and in Asia, car sales climbed 21.8 percent. Mainland China saw a 25.4 percent increase in deliveries. Sales in the Americas region improved 3.5 percent.
For the first quarter, Group net profit increased 11.4 percent to 1.46 billion euros from 1.31 billion euros in the previous year.
Group profit before tax, or EBT, climbed 8.1 percent to 2.17 billion euros. Profit before financial result, or EBIT, was 2.09 billion euros, up 2.6 percent from last year.
Revenues for the quarter increased 3.9 percent to 18.24 billion euros from 17.55 billion euros a year ago, helped by good sales volume.
In the Automotive segment, revenues rose 4.1 percent to 16.56 billion euros. In Motorcycles segment, revenues increased 8.3 percent to 472 million euros. Financial Services revenues edged up 1.2 percent to 4.89 billion euros.
The company said it still expects fiscal 2014 Group profit before tax to increase from last year's 7.91 billion euros, and sales volume to increase from 1,963,798 units, amid a challenging market environment.
Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board of management said, 'We are on course to achieve significant sales volume growth in the current year, leading to a new all-time high of over two million vehicles.'
On Frankfurt's Xetra, the shares are currently trading at 89.01 euros, up 0.29 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX