BMW balance sheet 2009: Sales are falling less than sales

I ntotal in 2009, the Munich-based company turned over around 50.7 billion euros , 4.7 percent less than a year earlier.

The proceeds collapsed by 10.3 percent

CEO Norbert Reithofer was confident that BMW will thus report a positive pre-tax result for 2009 as planned. The company intends to present the earnings figures on March 17th.

The proceeds from the Group's Automobiles division with the brands BMW , Mini and Rolls- Royce slumped 10.3 percent to 43.7 billion euros. The company sold 1.29 million cars worldwide last year, 10.4 percent fewer than a year earlier. Sales of motorcycles even fell by 13.1 percent.

In the current year, as a result of the gradual recovery of the global economy and thanks to new models, the company wants to grow profitably. BMW expects an improvement in sales in the single-digit percentage range to 1.3 million vehicles. The Munich-based company wants to grow, especially in the emerging markets of China, Brazil and India. But BMW is also optimistic about increasing its sales in Germany and the USA. Company boss Reithofer emphasized that the measures introduced to improve profitability took effect. The number of employees fell in 2009 by almost 4,000 to 96,230.