BMW net profit down

BMW Third-Quarter Earnings ReportBMW: announced Tuesday# that it had earned a net profit of 1.31 billion euros ($1.64 billion) between July and September - down 1.2 percent compared with the same period last year.

The Munich-based carmaker's revenue, however, rose 4.5 percent to 19.6 billion euros as it sold 509,669 vehicles, up 5.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

BMW attributed the decline in net profit to a tax bill that was 40 million euros higher than last year, and a further non-cash charge for losses on foreign-currency hedges intended to shield revenues from exchange rate fluctuations.

It also took a charge for the reduced value of its stake in SGL Carbon, a maker of advanced carbon-fiber materials used to reduce weight in BMW's i3 and i8 models.

Firmly set on record race

Despite the third-quarter dent in profit, BMW Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said the three-brand premium carmaker, which also owns the Rolls-Royce and the Mini brands, was set to achieve its full-year targets.

"We remain on course to achieve a significant increase in group profit before tax for the full year and to deliver more than two million vehicles during the twelve-month period," he said in a statement.

In 2014, BMW Group sales so far have jumped by 6.5 percent, reaching a total of 1.5 million vehicles. Demand for the company's cars is especially high in Asia and the United States. More importantly, the group was able to increase its profit margin to 9.4 percent from 9 percent across all of its models.

As a result, BMW has maintained its position as the world's biggest luxury automaker in terms of sales ahead of German competitors Audi and Mercedes.

uhe/ng (AP, Reuters, dpa)