BMW Pretax Q1 Profit Jumps 27% on Higher Group Revenue, 'Valuation Effects'

Luxury car maker BMW AG (BMW.XE) said Thursday that pretax profit in the first three months of the year rose nearly 27%, significantly beating market expectations.

BMW's earnings before interest and taxes jumped to 3.01 billion euros ($3.24 billion) in the three-month period ending March 31st, from EUR2.37 billion a year earlier. The better-than-expected result was due to "valuation effects," the car maker said.

Group revenue rose 12% to EUR23.45 billion from EUR20.85 billion a year ago, BMW said. Overall, the pretax profit margin in BMW's core automotive business slipped to 9% from 9.4% a year ago.

BMW kept its 2017 guidance unchanged, saying it expects a slight increase in profit this year, with an EBIT margin of between 8% and 10% in its core automotive operations. BMW will publish full results on May 4.

Write to William Wilkes at william.wilkes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 20, 2017 06:52 ET (10:52 GMT)