BMW Posts 126 Million Euro Profit for Q3

German carmaker BMW announce yesterday its financial results for the third quarter of the year, with numbers showing Q3 revenues of 11,759 million and a profit before tax of 126 million euros. These figures allow room for BMW to hope that 2009 numbers will be positive after all.

"The measures we have put in place to increase efficiency and reduce costs are taking effect“, Norbert Reithofer, BMW chairman of the board said in a release. "As a result, earnings for the full year 2009 are likely to be positive: “We are aiming to achieve positive group earnings for the current financial year.“

BMW says it managed to achieve these result by quickly reacting to the economic crisis. The group managed to cut cost by decreasing the number of employees by 5.3 percent, with the total workforce now counting 98,358 employees. In addition, a range of efficiency improvement measures are set in place to "offset the impact of adverse market conditions."

"We improved our cost position even further in the third quarter. Our strict cost management and profitability measures enabled us to make progress and increase efficiency. We reduced our fixed costs substantially. Our measures to lower our variable costs and especially concerning our cost of materials are taking effect," Friedrich Eichiner, BMW member of the board added.

For the upcoming years, BMW plans to keep the positive trend, with the goal of reaching an EBIT margin of 8 to 10 percent by 2012 still unchanged. For 2010, the momentum gained in the past months is hoped to lead BMW to more profit.