BMW says earnings momentum slows on China, rivalry

[FRANKFURT] BMW AG's second quarter operating profit eased three per cent on slowing China sales, leading the carmaker to caution that while it still expects new records for sales and pretax profit in the full year, earnings momentum was slowing.

"The scale of the increase during the forecast period is likely to be held down by fierce competition on automobile markets, rising personnel costs, continued high levels of upfront expenditure to safeguard business viability going forward and upcoming challenges relating to the normalisation of the Chinese market," BMW said in a statement on Tuesday.

REUTERS