By Andrey Sychev
BERLIN (Reuters) -BMW on Wednesday reported a decrease first-quarter revenue margin in its automotive phase as persistently larger prices continued to weigh and demand for luxurious automobiles in China remained muted.
The German premium automaker’s earnings earlier than taxes (EBT) margin within the automobile phase fell to eight.8% versus 12.1% in the identical interval final yr and 9.2% anticipated by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.
The Munich-based group forecast EBT to lower barely this yr on account of larger manufacturing and personnel prices, in addition to analysis and improvement bills. A lower in used automobile costs this yr would additionally contribute to the decline.
BMW (ETR:) is investing closely in electrical autos and mannequin revamps throughout its line-up and expects spending to hit a document excessive this yr, up from 7.5 billion euros final yr.
Friends Mercedes Benz (ETR:) and Porsche are following swimsuit because the German carmakers try to deal with rising competitors within the electrical automobile market from China and Tesla (NASDAQ:).
Group EBT fell 18.9% within the January-March interval to 4.1 billion euros ($4.40 billion), however nonetheless above the three.9 billion euros anticipated by analysts.
Gross sales of battery electrical autos (BEV) rose 28% to 83,000 autos within the quarter.
($1 = 0.9313 euros)