BMW Lowers Margin Guidance on Coronavirus Hit -- Update
March 18 2020 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
(Adds comments from CFO regarding expectation for EBIT margin
before the pandemic)
By Jessica Sier
BMW AG on Wednesday revised its margin guidance down as the
spread of coronavirus continues to damage global supply chains and
consumer demand.
The German luxury car maker expects its key profitability
metric--the margin on earnings before interest and taxes in its
automotive segment--to slump to between 2% and 4% in 2020. This is
below a previous expectation of 6% to 8%, Chief Financial Officer
Nicolas Peter said.
BMW said 2020 pretax profit will be significantly lower than in
2019. Delivery volumes to all major markets will also be lower in
2020, particularly the automotive segment, the company said.
Uncertainty regarding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic makes
it difficult to accurately forecast its performance for 2020, it
added.
"Based on the latest developments, the BMW group expects the
spread of coronavirus and the required containment measures to have
a negative impact on delivery volumes in all major markets over the
year 2020 as a whole," the company said in a statement.
The guidance comes as most major car manufacturers and their
suppliers suspend operations in plants across Europe.
Write to Jessica Sier at jessica.sier@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2020 07:14 ET (11:14 GMT)
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