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FOCUS-BMW sales rise two percent in first quarter

MUNICH: German luxury-car maker BMW said on Tuesday that group sales rose two percent to 11.5 billion marks ($7.77 billion) in the first three months of 1996 from the same period a year earlier.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG group car production during the same period fell six percent to 284,900 units while car deliveries to customers slipped one percent to 265,200 units.

Commenting on its subsidiary Rover Group, BMW said production at the Britain-based car maker fell three percent in the first quarter to 132,400 units.

"For 1996 as a whole, we expect an increase over 1995 in production and sales for both BMW and Rover," BMW management board chairman Bernd Pieschetsrieder said in a speech prepared for delivery at the annual news conference.

In 1995, BMW group car production totalled 1,098,582 vehicles, with the Rover unit showing a rise in production of 34.1 percent.

BMW previously reported group net profit fell slightly to 692 million marks in 1995 from 697 million marks the year before. Group sales rose 9.4 percent to 46.1 billion marks.

The company said its trading results in 1995 were reduced by one billion marks because of currency market factors.

It said the dollar exchange rate was responsible for half its currency woes and European currencies for the other half.

A company official said that according to BMW's accounting method the British-based Rover Group posted a 1995 pre-tax loss of 335 million marks.

BMW had earlier reported that according to British accounting standards the Rover Group 1995 profits before interest and tax amounted to 91 million sterling ($138.9 million) compared to 83 million sterling the previous year.

A BMW spokesman said that under BMW accounting methods the Rover result included interest payments and investment. In 1995, BMW invested 1.2 billion marks in Rover.

The company gave no outlook on earnings in the current year, but BMW's chief finance officer Volker Doppelfeld indicated that it was contemplating raising future dividend payouts and said there were no plans to raise capital soon.

"After having paid a consistent dividend of 12.50 marks we are raising the standards for ourselves," Doppelfeld said in a speech prepared for delivery at the annual news conference.

He added, however, that his statements should not be perceived as an announcement regarding dividend policies in 1996.-Reuter