BMW turnover accelerates by over 30% in stalled market

BMWS IRISH operation increased its turnover by 30 per cent last year to €105.9 million last year despite the lacklustre performance of the new car market overall.

The Irish subsidiary of the premium car brand, BMW Automotive (Ireland) Ltd, also reported an operating profit of €3.4 million for 2011, overturning a loss of €2.8 million made in 2010.

While the overall new car market grew by just 1.7 per cent last year, with sales of 89,900, BMW increased its sales by 30.9 per cent. The German car brand held a 3.8 per cent share of new car sales in 2011. According to figures from Society of the Irish Motor Industry, it sold 3,433 new BMWs last year, along with 422 new Minis.

Its best-selling model by far was the 5-Series, which made up 2,163 of its 2011 sales, followed by the 3-Series with 631 and the 1-Series with 203. In terms of emissions-based tax bands, 88 per cent of the cars it sold last year fell into the two lowest bands.

Registration figures for this year – up to the end of September – show the firm has increased its market share to 4.3 per cent this year with sales of 3,274. It has also recorded sales of 433 new Minis over the nine-month period. This is at a time when the overall market is down 12 per cent at 76,625 new cars sold in the 10 months to September. The biggest seller remains the 5-Series with 1,634 registrations.

Accounts for the year ended December 31st, 2011, record wages and salaries at €1.8 million, with an average of 17 employees. Payments to directors came to €267,000, up €39,000 on 2010.

The firm’s Irish finance arm, BMW Financial Services (Ireland) Ltd, reported a loss for 2011 of €1.3 million. It sells financial products to dealers and retail customers of the brand. The director’s report states that this loss “has arisen due to the start-up nature of operations and was in line with expectations”. The directors state that profits are expected from 2012 onwards.

Revenues for 2011 rose to €5.25 million from €941,000 the year before. This is earned from hire-purchase contracts, financial leases, advances to dealers and loans to fellow BMW group members. The firm had €74 million in hire-purchase contracts last year, with a €3.1 million provision for bad and doubtful debts. It also had €32.8 million in wholesale funding and stocking loans to BMW dealership groups.

The accounts state that the highest paid director earned €371,000.