German motor giant BMW's Irish operations reported pretax profits of almost €10 million last year. It was the first full year after the group bought out the Irish distribution rights for the luxury car marque from Dublin businessman Frank Keane.

The company is poised for further growth in the current year as Irish motorists buy more BMW and Mini cars than ever and the company expands its retail network.

Some 5,523 new BMWs have already been sold this year, the first time the brand surpassed 5,000 sales in a single year. Sales of the Mini model in the same period were 982, surprising last years total of 737.

With new car sales set to receive a further boost next year when money held in the special savings scheme matures, BMW's Irish unit BMW Automotive Ireland Ltd is adding two new dealerships in Kerry and Cork to its network of 15 outlets from next January.

BMW Automotive (Ireland) Ltd is reported to have paid an unconfirmed figure of some €34 million to acquire the import rights from Mr Keane, who held the Irish distribution and import franchise for more than 30 years.

The handover from Mr Keane took place in October 2003, as BMW's parent company moved to buy back distribution rights in other European markets such as Portugal and Greece.

Newly-filed accounts for BMW Automotive Ireland company show that it had revenues of €5.14 million in the three months to the end of 2003 and turned an operating loss of €7.75 million.

The company went into the black immediately afterwards, with operating profits of €8.9 million in 2004 on sales of €169.3 million.

With the cost of sales at €147 million and €13.42 million in administration expenses, the pretax profit last year was €9.91 million.

The post-tax profit of €8.67 million was enough to erase the deficit of €6.77 million that was outstanding in the profit and loss account from the previous year. No dividend was paid.

The company's two direcors - managing director Conrad Schmidt and PJ O'Donnell - received €253,000 in fees last year. Its 19 staff received wages and salaries of €1.74 million.

Official figures from the Society of Irish Motor Industry show that BMW has steadily grown its share of the new car market.

It had 1.74 per cent of the market in 2000, 2.54 per cent in 2003, and 3.13 per cent in 2004. That share increased again to 3.28 per cent in the first three quarters of this year.

A spokeswoman for BMW Automotive (Ireland) Ltd said the Kerry dealership was going to Ahern's of Castleisland.

The new Cork dealership is going to the Keary's group, which already has distribution rights for Toyota and Lexus, posing new competition for the Kevin O'Leary group.

The company has four dealerships in Dublin, one of them on the Naas road, owned by Mr Keane. The others are: Murphy & Gunne, Joe Duffy Motors, and Maxwell Motors.

Other big dealerships include Pat Keogh in Limerick, McKeon's motors in Meath, Boland's in Waterford and Barry Motors in Galway.