Record BMW sales beat market expectations

RECORD car sales helped BMW AG beat market expectations with a one-third rise in quarterly pretax profit, boosting its shares and prompting analysts to consider raising full-year earnings estimates.

The carmaker said yesterday that second-quarter profit before tax rose to €1.23 billion, easily beating the average estimate of €1.04bn from 25 analysts in a Reuters poll, on the back of a surprisingly strong performance at its core automotive division.

BMW said it sold more cars both on a quarterly and half-year basis than ever before.