BMW Sales, Earnings Helped by China Demand--Update

Luxury car maker BMW AG (BMW.XE) said Thursday its earnings and sales rose in the second quarter, helped by demand in China.

Net profit after minorities in the April-through-June period was 2.19 billion euros ($2.59 billion), up 13% from EUR1.94 billion a year earlier. Earnings before interest and taxes rose 7.5% to EUR2.93 billion, beating expectations for EUR2.87 billion. Revenue grew 3.1% to EUR25.8 billion.

In the automotive segment, BMW's closely-watched margin on EBIT rose to 9.7% in the quarter from 9.5%. BMW said it would stick to its 2017 target for a margin between 8% and 10%.

BMW provided a break-out of regional sales for the quarter showing vehicle sales in China up 25% and Europe rising 0.4%. In the Americas, second-quarter deliveries fell 6.1%, held down by the contracting automobile market in the U.S., it said.

The company confirmed its outlook for a slight increase in pretax profit in 2017, as widely expected. BMW also said it now expects its automotive segment's revenue to show a "solid increase" in 2017--an improvement on its previous outlook for a slight rise.

-Write to Sarah Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 03, 2017 02:39 ET (06:39 GMT)