BMW Third-Quarter Earnings Fall On Higher Costs

Luxury car maker BMW AG (BMW.XE) said Tuesday that its net profit fell in the third quarter, citing research and development costs and investments related to the company changing focus from combustion engines to e-mobility technology.

Net profit after minorities fell 2.8% to EUR1.76 billion ($2.04 billion) in the third quarter from EUR1.81 billion a year earlier. BMW said earnings before interest and taxes fell 3.2% to EUR2.30 billion in the period from EUR2.38 billion the year before.

"We are investing substantially in tomorrow's mobility, enabling us to maintain our leading position of innovation and sustainable employment," said Harald Krueger, chief executive of BMW.

Revenue stayed almost flat, growing 0.3% to EUR23.42 billion, beating analyst expectations of EUR22.97 billion in a consensus estimate provided by FactSet.

In the automotive segment, BMW's closely-watched Ebit margin fell to 8.3% in the quarter from 8.5% in the year-ago period.

BMW confirmed its guidance for 2017, expecting a solid increase in pretax profit and a slight revenue increase for its automotive segment, which it expects to report an Ebit margin of between 8% and 10%.

Write to Max Bernhard at Max.Bernhard@dowjones.com; @mxbernhard

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2017 02:20 ET (07:20 GMT)