The carmaker bmw made a record profit last year. Earnings before taxes increased by 46.4 percent to 23.5 billion euros in 2022, the company announced on Thursday. Sales soared by 28.2 percent to 142.6 billion euros.
Last year, the group acquired a majority stake in the Chinese joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) – the revaluation of the previously held BBA shares alone contributed EUR 7.7 billion as a special contribution, or around a third of the pre-tax profit of EUR 23.5 billion .
Due to a lack of semiconductors and a lack of wiring harnesses, BMW had to Ukraine Only 2.4 million cars were sold in 2022 – around 100,000 fewer than in the previous year. But the carmaker benefited from a high proportion of expensive models, from higher prices for new cars and for leasing returns on the used car market and a weak euro.
The dividend is to increase to EUR 8.50 per share, meaning that almost a third of the profit will continue to be distributed to the shareholders. The target range for the payout ratio is 30 to 40 percent of net income.
BMW shares only briefly reacted positively to the dividend proposal for 2022 on Thursday. After evaluating the business figures, the papers from Munich then fell by 3.7 percent to 97.25 euros. In the morning, at EUR 103.70, they had reached another high since the end of 2015 and were up 24 percent in 2023.
According to the first conclusion of an expert for the key data, sales and operating results from the automotive sector failed to meet market expectations in the fourth quarter. However, he praised the strong free cash flow.