【英语财经】中国经济放缓恐拖累宝马业绩前景 China puts small dent in BMW’s

BMW retained the crown as the world’s largest luxury carmaker after sales and profits rose to record levels last year, but it warned that slowing Chinese growth may hamper its most profitable market.

The German carmaker’s volume sales in mainland China, the world’s largest car market, grew 1.6 per cent in 2015 compared with 16.6 per cent in 2014. Sales also slowed in the US.

However, BMW sold 1m cars in Europe for the first time last year, highlighting the recovery in the region’s car market since the financial crisis.

The company reported that pre-tax profits rose 5 per cent to a record ￠9.6bn for 2015, in line with analysts’ expectations. Revenue increased almost 15 per cent to ￠92.2bn.

BMW, which celebrated its 100th birthday on Monday, proposed raising its dividend to ￠3.20 a share from ￠2.90 one year ago, a level that fell short of the market’s expectations. Its shares were down 2.4 per cent at ￠78.09 yesterday.

Total car sales rose 6 per cent to just below 2.3m last year, putting BMW ahead of key rivals Mercedes and Audi in the luxury car market.

Harald Krüger, BMW chief executive, said the company would target another sales record in 2016, forecasting volumes would be “slightly up”.

However, he warned that the global political and economic environment “is also expected to remain volatile”.

Volumes sales at Rolls-Royce, a BMW unit, fell 7 per cent to 3,785 cars last year because of a “notable” shift in China, said the company, “where the luxury segment as a whole felt stiff headwinds”.

China overtook the US to become the world’s largest new car market in 2009. But the market is becoming competitive for international carmakers, with price-cutting by domestic rivals and government-imposed caps on the number of new vehicles in major cities.

Turmoil in China’s stock market has also knocked confidence.

Christian Ludwig, an analyst at Bankhaus Lampe, estimated that 30 per cent of BMW’s earnings per share stem from China, where profit margins are higher than the global average.

“Weakness in China is something we’ve seen in the first two months [of 2016], especially on BMW,” he said. “That’s a reason I’m not too optimistic.”

宝马(BMW)去年创纪录的销量和利润使其保住了世界最大豪华汽车制造商的桂冠，但该公司警告称，中国增长放缓可能拖累其最有利可图的市场。

2015年，这家德国汽车制造商在中国大陆（世界最大汽车市场）的销量增长了1.6%，相比之下，2014年的增幅为16.6%。宝马在美国销售增长也有所放缓。

然而，宝马去年首次在欧洲售出100万辆汽车，凸显出自金融危机以来该地区汽车市场的复苏。

宝马报告称，2015年税前利润增长5%，达到创纪录的96亿欧元——符合分析师的预期。收入增长近15%，至922亿欧元。

周一庆祝完公司创立100周年的宝马，提出将股息从1年前的每股2.90欧元提升至每股3.20欧元——低于市场预期水平。宝马股价昨日下跌2.4%，至78.09欧元。

去年，宝马的汽车总销量增长了6%，接近230万辆，使该公司在豪华车市场继续保持对主要竞争对手奔驰(Mercedes)和奥迪(Audi)的领先。

宝马首席执行官哈拉尔德?克吕格尔(Harald Krüger)表示，该公司2016年的目标是再度刷新销量纪录，预计销量将“略有上升”。

然而，他警告称，全球政治、经济环境“仍将处于波动之中”。

由于中国市场的“明显”变化，去年，宝马旗下劳斯莱斯(Rolls-Royce)的销量下滑了7%，至3785辆，该公司表示，“在中国，豪华汽车市场整体感受到了阻力”。

2009年，中国超过美国成为全球最大新车市场。但对跨国汽车制造商而言，随着中国国内竞争对手降价以及政府在一线城市实施新车限购政策，中国市场的竞争日趋激烈。



中国股市动荡也打击了消费者的信心。

Bankhaus Lampe分析师克里斯蒂安?路德维希(Christian Ludwig)估计，宝马每股盈利的30%来自中国，该公司在中国的利润率高于全球平均水平。

“我们在（2016年）头两个月已经看到了中国市场的疲软，尤其是对宝马而言，”他说，“这是我不是太乐观的原因之一。”

译者/隆祥