BMW share price down, October sales increase on Chinese demand

BMW Group AG reported increased deliveries of its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles due to strong Chinese sales.

The German car manufacturer reported a revenue jump of slightly over 11% in October to 184 297 shipments, boosted by a 20% rise in Chinese sales and the introduction of a new Mini model.

Interest in the Mini brand increased after the all-new third generation three-door model hit the showrooms. The model reached a 53.7% increase in shipments for October compared to a year earlier, marking it as the best-ever selling month for the Mini series.

The BMW brand gained 10.8% to a total of 155 120 units in October, boosted by strong growth in demand for its “extremely popular” BMW X5 off-road vehicle, said the company. Performance was also helped by the July-released BMW X4, the new addition to the 4-series. The brand also hit the markets in September with its BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, which accounted for 3 011 shipments.

BMW sold 1 985 i3 electric cars and 419 i8 hybrid sport-cars, bringing the total of year-to-date electric vehicles delivered to slightly below 13 000.

“This record month means we are well on track to achieve our target of selling more than two million vehicles by the end of the year” BMW board member Ian Robertson said in a news release.

Earlier this month the company released its quarterly financial statement, which showed a revenue increase of 4.5% compared with last year, reaching €19.6 billion.

Quarterly sales volume rose 6.9% to 433 145 units, compared with the 405 350 shipments of 2013s Q3.

Deliveries of Mini vehicles increased 0.2% in the three months ended September 30th to 75 633, while its Rolls-Royce brand sold 891 units, up 8% year-on-year. Overall shipments rose 5.8% to 509 669 cars.

Production rose 5% for the German car maker, including a 20.8% increased manufacturing of its Mini brand. BMWs motorcycles segment also enjoyed a healthy growth in production of 39.4%. However, sales in the segment were up only 3.6%.

Net profit stood at €4.54 billion, or €6.90 earnings per share, a 12.7% increase compared to last years result of €4.03 billion and €6.12 earnings per share.

“We expect the good progress made in the first nine months to continue throughout the remainder of the year,” said the company. “Demand for our fresh and attractive fleet of vehicles remains high worldwide. We are therefore confident that the BMW Group will again grow profitably in 2014.”

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG gained 0.48% on Tuesday and closed at €84.31 in Frankfurt. The stock lost 1.22% on Wednesday to trade at €83.28 at 10:10 GMT, marking a one-year increase of 2.13%. The company is valued at €53.91 billion. According to the Financial Times, the 29 analysts offering 12-month price targets for BWM AG have a median target of €100.00, with a high estimate of €120.00 and a low estimate of €70.00. The median estimate represents a 18.61% increase from the last close price of €84.31.