FRANKFURT (AFP) – German luxury carmaker BMW said on Thursday it had met its 2023 targets after pre-tax profits were boosted by improved sales, with electric vehicles “a key growth driver”.
The group said it delivered more than 2.5 million cars last year, 6.4 per cent more than a year ago.
Group revenues rose by nine percent to EUR155.5 billion (USD170 billion).
The BMW group, which also includes the Rolls-Royce and Mini brands, “achieved its business objectives” for 2023 “despite strong competition and volatile conditions”, the company said in a statement.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) soared by 32 per cent to EUR18.5 billion.
Net profit, however, plunged by more than 34 per cent to just over EUR12 billion due to a one-off accounting effect linked to the full consolidation of BMW’s Chinese joint venture BBA.
Without that one-time impact, net profit “would have been higher year-on-year”, BMW said.
Deliveries of fully-electric cars jumped by 74 per cent to more than 375,000, accounting for around 15 per cent of total sales, as the industry-wide shift towards lower-emissions vehicles gathers pace and competition heats up.
While the company said it had seen “high demand for its products” overall, its “range of fully electric vehicles was a key growth driver” in 2023.
BMW said it planned to pay shareholders a dividend of EUR6 per share, down from EUR8.50 the year before but slightly more than analysts had expected.
