China helps zoom BMW profits

German automaker BMW AG says booming sales of its luxury cars and SUVs in China helped its profits more than double to euro 1.81 billion (Dh9.53 billion) in the second quarter. The net profit figure released yesterday compares to euro 834 million a year ago and easily beat the euro 1.475 billion average estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenues in the quarter rose 16.5 per cent to euro 17.9 billion, just shy of forecasts. The company turned in fat profit margins, crediting a high-value model mix, with its 5-series sedan and X-3 sport utility showing large sales volume increases. Sales in China rose 52 per cent, even as the overall Chinese car market increased by 20 per cent, cooling its previous red-hot growth somewhat due to the end of state-sponsored stimulus measures. BMW sold 63,300 cars in China during the quarter, compared to 80,300 at home in Germany. Sales in the important US market also increased. Article continues below The Munich-based company's results follow strong earnings from other German carmakers. Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG last week also showed sizable profits on sales in China and other emerging markets. Porsche AG, which is merging with VW, on Monday said it made more than a billion euros in operating earnings in the first half of the year. Max Warburton, auto analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said the results were "quite simply awesome," citing its profit margin before taxes and interest of 14.4 per cent. "BMW's margins are so stunning that inevitably the debate will return to the question of ‘are we at peak,'" Warburton said. Though Warburton said the second quarter success, which is usually the strongest for the industry, was unlikely to be exceeded for the rest of the year, he saw no reason for earnings to diminish in 2012 and described the company's shares "profoundly cheap at current levels." BMW shares traded up 0.44 per cent at euro 68.01 in morning trading German time. Like several other German companies this earnings season, the company was cautious about the economy for the rest of the year. It said it is unlikely that growth will be as dynamic as in 2010, given the prospect of higher interest rates around the world and debt troubles in many countries. CEO Norbert Reithofer told journalists on a conference call that "global risks continue to increase, rather than decrease." Toyota ekes out quarterly profit Toyota eked out a 1.1 billion yen ($14 million) quarterly profit and raised its annual earnings forecast yesterday as it mounts a comeback from the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. Still, April-June profit for the world's biggest automaker was a fraction of the 190.4 billion yen it earned the same period the previous year. Quarterly sales crashed 29 per cent to 3.44 trillion yen ($44.68 billion) because of production disruptions stemming from the disasters. Toyota Motor Corp cited how auto sales had held up in Asian nations such as Indonesia in raising earnings and sales forecasts for the fiscal year through March 2012. The automaker now expects an annual profit of 390 billion yen ($5.1 billion) compared with its previous forecast of 280 billion yen ($3.6 billion) profit. The new forecast is still 4 per cent lower than profit in the previous year.