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Tuesday November 3, 01:30 PM
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BMW sees gradual market rebound after Q3 miss
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW forecast a gradual market rebound in 2010 after third-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 86 percent amid a global slump that now shows signs of easing.
The world's biggest maker of premium cars said on Tuesday it still saw positive 2009 earnings thanks to cost cuts even as it repeated sales volume was set to fall 10-15 percent.
"We expect that the markets will make a gradual recovery over the coming year", Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said.
BMW posted its first year-on-year volume gain this year in September and has forecast this would become a trend during the rest of 2009 thanks to launches of new models such as the BMW X1 and 5 Series Gran Turismo.
BMW had said on Oct. 7 that 2009 sales volume might drop by only 10-15 percent -- a key forecast since its finance chief had said in September there was a good chance the group could post a 2009 profit if volumes were not worse than that level.
In the first nine months of 2009, group volumes fell 15.7 percent to 939,554 vehicles.
Daimler AG, whose Mercedes-Benz Cars premium division is BMW's archrival, reported third-quarter group EBIT of 470 million euros.
Volkswagen, the parent of premium brand Audi, made an operating profit of 278 million.
Shares of BMW trade at around 25 times 12-month forward earnings, a discount to Daimler on 36 times but a premium to VW's multiple of nearly 17, according to StarMine, which weights analysts' estimates by their forecasting accuracy.
(Reporting by Michael Shields)
(For more news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)
