MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Luxury carmaker BMW AG(BMW.L, BAMXF.PK, BAMXY.PK) reported that its first-quarter Group net profit fell 74.2 percent to 588 million euros from 2.28 billion euros in the year-ago period. Earnings per share fell to 0.85 euro from 3.44 euros a year ago.
BMW said that the latest quarter's results include an expense of about 1.4 billion euros was recognized for a provision on the basis of the Statement of Objections received from the EU Commission in connection with ongoing antitrust proceedings. The company added that it will contest the EU Commission's allegations with all the legal means at its disposal.
Group profit before tax amounted to 762 million euros, down 75.7 percent from 3.14 billion euros in the prior-year quarter.
Profit before financial result or EBIT fell 78.2 percent to 589 million euros from 2.71 billion euros last year. The EBT margin for the Group came in at 3.4 percent, compared to 13.8 percent last year.
Group revenues for the quarter declined 0.9 percent to 22.46 billion euros from 22.67 billion euros in the prior year, and includes the provision recognized in connection with EU proceedings.
First-quarter deliveries of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles rose 0.1 percent to 605,333 units from 604,629 units last year.
Further, BMW Group reaffirmed its targets for fiscal 2019. The company expects its Group profit before tax for the year to be well below the previous year's level.
BMW said it is confident of its ability to achieve volume growth in the Automotive segment, where it is targeting a slight increase in the number of deliveries to customers in 2019. Within a stable business environment, the company projects an EBIT margin in the range of 8 percent to 10 percent.
Without the effect of the provision for the ongoing antitrust proceedings amounting to 1.4 billion euros, BMW said that the target range for the EBIT margin of 6 percent to 8 percent has not changed.
However, since the provision has a negative impact of 1.5 percentage points on the EBIT margin, the BMW Group is expecting a margin in the Automotive segment for 2019 between 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent.
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