The car manufacturer BMW has tougher competition and a cautious buying mood in the important market in the second quarter China get felt. Despite a larger proportion of more expensive cars, the operating result in the core business fell surprisingly significantly – this was mainly due to higher manufacturing and sales costs as well as expenses for the upcoming new models.
However, as expected, the BMW management around boss Oliver Zipse (60) stuck to their annual goals. The Munich-based company is expecting improvement in the People’s Republic from the third quarter onwards, and the new version of the “bread and butter” model 5 Series is also expected to give momentum in the second half of the year. However, the stock fell on Thursday morning.
After the start of trading, the paper fell by 3.6 percent to 82.70 euros. This year, the price has fallen significantly since its annual high of over 115 euros in April because the situation in the automotive industry has become increasingly cloudy. Analyst Jose Asumendi from JPMorgan spoke of solid results given high spending on research and development. The flow of financial resources was very strong.
Group earnings before interest and taxes fell by almost 11 percent to just under 3.9 billion euros, according to the report Dax-Group announced on Thursday. In car manufacturing, the operating margin fell by 0.8 percentage points to 8.4 percent. Analysts on average had expected less of a decline. The bottom line is that BMW’s profits fell by almost 9 percent to 2.7 billion euros.
BMW focuses on selling battery electric cars
BMW had already announced record high investment spending on systems and research and development this year. The new “Neue Klasse” model generation is scheduled to launch next year, which requires appropriate advance work. Manufacturing and selling and administrative costs also increased. BMW is also continuing to pick up the pace in selling its batteryElectric cars, which are not yet as profitable as conventional combustion engines and plug-in hybrids.
“Under the challenging conditions in the first half of the year, we are leading the direct competitive environment with our electric growth – and at the same time we have been delivering high profitability in the target corridor for ten quarters,” said CEO Zipse. “With this high level of resilience, we can consistently invest in our future even when the entire industry has to navigate rough waters.”
BMW sold 618,743 cars between April and June. That was 1.3 percent less than a year earlier – but that was mainly due to the Mini small car brand, for which BMW is currently introducing many new models. There was a 2.2 percent increase in deliveries of the more profitable cars from the core BMW brand.
China business under pressure
However, group sales fell slightly by 0.7 percent to 36.9 billion euros in the quarter. In China in particular, increased competition and cautious consumer sentiment had a negative impact on revenues, it said. There is a tough price war in the People’s Republic, especially for electric cars, but increasingly also in the segment of more expensive combustion engines. Because of the real estate crisis in the country, wealthy Chinese are currently less generous than before.
However, BMW is already expecting an improvement in China in the third quarter, after which the economic situation should stabilize. The new 5 Series model should also provide momentum in the second half of the year. There are also the new mini models.
Other companies are also currently having problems in China, including its arch rival Mercedes Benz and the Volkswagen-Group with its core brand and subsidiaries Audi and Porsche AG. China has long been the major growth engine with high margins for German car companies. However, for several years now, customs disputes in world trade and economic problems in China have been slowing things down. German manufacturers are often finding it difficult, particularly in the country’s rapidly growing electric car segment, because local rivals produce more cheaply.