On the face of it, BMW Motorrad’s admission of an increased third-quarter loss in its latest financial results to 30 September looks disturbing. But the motorcycle division is actually doing very well on a year-to-date basis.
Retail sales volume for the most recent three-month period was up by 5.4 per cent to 28,213 bikes. But quarterly bike production — and therefore wholesale shipments to dealers — fell by 22.1 per cent to 21,047, presumably for anticipated seasonal demand reasons. So associated revenue was down by 9.5 per cent to £272.5m. This delivered a divisional operating loss of £3.4m, deteriorating from an operating loss of £2.5m last year. The pre-tax loss was £4.2m, against a loss of £3.4m in the same quarter of 2012.
For the nine months of 2013 to date, the picture is much brighter. Global retail bike sales were up by 8.4 per to 93,154. Production, however, declined by 4.3 per cent to 89,499. Revenue rose by 1.6 per cent to £1.04bn. Operating profit grew by 13.4 per cent to £78.2m. Pre-tax profit increased by 12.5 per cent to £75.7m.
The transparency of the figures is complicated by BMW’s disposal of its Husqvarna subsidiary — which was effective from 5 March 2013. For instance, Husqvarna unit sales have been factored out of relevant periodic totals but the position with related revenue and profit/loss is unclear.Â