BMW Group

BMW GROUP

OVERWIEW

BMW was founded in 1916 as an aircraft-engine factory in Munich.  In 1923 BMW builds first motorcycle. In 1928 BMW bought the car factory at Eisenach, Thuringia with the license to build a small car called the Dixi. This first BMW car was developed in Munich, like all other BMW products. In 1932 BMW 3/20 was developed in Munich, in 1933 - 6 cylinder's BMW 303. Until second World War BMW showed active growth in all three branches: automobile, aero engine  and motorcycles   industries.

 In 1973 the  first BMW subsidiaries  were created in France  and North America.  In 1979 BMW developed first  digital engine electronics and began R&D on hydrogen engines. In 1984 the first European models with catalytic converters appear. Computers and robots revolutionize work in planning and production. In 1989 in the year the Iron Curtain fell, BMW has another first by producing half a million cars. The company also has a turnover of DM 20.000 million, and acquires Kontron GmbH, a specialist in process engineering.

  Nowadays BMW Group Company is powerful international company represented all over the world with more than 94.000 employees and over one million vehicles sold every year. Importers in 120 countries represent the BMW and worldwide sales organization comprised 24 sales subsidiaries. BMW has worldwide subsidiaries and manufacturing plants in Germany, Austria, the UK, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The activities of the business fields of the BMW Group are broken down into the segments BMW automobiles, Rover Automobiles, BMW motorcycles and Financial Services.[1]

BMW automobiles and Rover automobiles account for the larger part of activities within Group. These business fields manufacture, assemble and sell automobiles, spare parts and accessories.

The BMW Motorcycles segment develops, manufactures, and sells motorcycles as well as spare parts and accessories.

The Financial Segment focuses on the leasing of automobiles and financing credit for customers and dealers.

Miscellaneous and consolidated companies  segment include  Aero Engines business, Software and other intra-segment activities.

BMW GROWTH POLICY

The fundamental objective of the BMW Group is to continue the process of profitable growth by concentrating on high-profit market segments. Precisely, this is why the BMW group will use the potential of the BMW brand to an even greater success in a future.

In the first half of the year 2000 BMW has already achieved best sales results ever in the history of the company. Worldwide deliveries have increased by almost 9% to 421 000 units; the turnover was approximately 15% above the corresponding figure in the first half of previous year.

The production of BMW Group is developed to satisfy different customer’s needs, providing a variety of models for  luxury, middle and low segments of market. Company constantly works out new technological decisions and improvements and nowadays sets new standards in production.

BMW has already achieved in individual requests fulfilling. Now it’s ambiguous objective is to provide every customer with his individual, personalized car on a defined date agreed in advance. Moreover, BMW Group is setting a new benchmark to process the time required for a new car in distribution and production to 10 days.

BMW Company continues to develop the concept of hydrogen engine automobile which according specialists’ estimations will dominate in the future automotive market because of the limited natural resources. First experimental cars with hydrogen engines already exist.

In the future BMW heavily relies on the big E-commerce project, which supposed to increase the number of  employees and customers five times within the next three years.

BMW Group will bundle its e-business activities in a new company named nexolab. With nexolab,  BMW Group creates a platform that will support the entire process chain - from the buying to the sales process for the manufacturing industry.

Company has well-defined personnel policy. BMW treats people who works for the company not like corporate funds, but rather the key to its’ success. This concept leads to lower cost and economic growth.

Nevertheless, the commonwealth of big multinational company strongly depends on successful performance of all its’ segments and divisions.   

Therefore, the next analysis of the BMW Group can not be presented without a short overview of one of the BMW segments, the Rover automobiles.

ROVER STORY

Rover Company entered BMW Group in 1994.  This bargain was widely discussed in mass media and the big part of leading manager’s staff had to leave this company protesting against this acquisition. Extending the share of BMW Group in automobile market Rover Group’s entry of also significantly affected the financial position of company.  The constant decrease of demand in UK market, inefficient cost and production policies in Rover’s enterprises were among the reasons of Rover failure.  Constant growth of British pound against DM, later against Euro made the Rover production noncompetitive against others European car-manufactures. 

FIGURE 1 Rover market share 1994-1999

Big investments made in order to cut cost and increase the productivity of Rover plants were useless. Starting from 1994,   Rover market share in Great Britain has been dropped  from 11.3% to  4.6% , nearly  3 times  (See Figure1).

In the course of 1999 Rover despite having its’ cost significantly cut continued to loss the sales volume and profitability. British pound continued to increase against Euro. Therefore automobile makers in the Euro currency area continued to have a substantial competitive advantage which can not be set off even by an additional increase in productivity with Rover.

The BMW Group had to set aside substantial provisions for the process of restructuring and other risks with Rover. In all, this extraordinary expenditure totaled to 3.150 million euro and produced net loss of 2.487 million euro (See profit and loss account).

In the course of the first half of the year 2000, the BMW Group completed its reorientation and on 9 May 2000 British Phoenix Consortium takes over responsibility for the development, production and sale of Rover Cars.  Phoenix has taken over approximately 7000 associates of the former Rover Group, the Birmingham Plant and accordingly production of the Rover 25, 45, the MGF and Mini Classics.

On June 2000, Land Rover together with Freelander, Defender, Discovery and Range Rover models was sold to Ford Motor Company for a purchase price of euro 3 billion.

The BMW Group remains supplier for Phoenix and the Ford Motor Company with certain engines, parts, and components. 

FINANCIAL DATA

As was already mentioned, the BMW Group entered the 2000-year with the net loss of  2.487 million euro. The main indicators of BMW financial performance in two year prospective are listed in the Exhibit 1.

The automobile production by BMW Group in 1999 was down by 5%, more than 1 147 400 units, compared to the previous year because of Rover’s stocks reduction. Deliveries by the BMW Group remained at the same level, with total sales of BMW, Rover, Land Rover, MG, and MINI automobiles amounting to more than 1 180 400 units.

Due to the growing sales of BMW Automobiles segment sales of the BMW Group in fiscal 1999 increased by 6.6 % to 34 402 million euro.

Cost of production was up over the previous year’s figure by 6.1% to 28 757 million euro. The share of production costs in sales was down by 0.4%. The cost of sales and general administration increased by a total of 13.4%.

Despite of the declining result in the Rover Automobiles segment, the result of the BMW Group’s ordinary business was up by 4.7% to 1 111 million euro. After deduction of profit-related and other taxes the BMW Group’s annual surplus before the extraordinary result was 663  million euro, 43.5% over the previous year.   

Investments by the BMW Group amounted to 2.155 million euro, remaining at almost exactly the same level as the year before. These funds were invested in the preparation of new models, the modernization and production facilities. These investments were financed fully trough the Group’s cash flow. The BMW Group continues to rank at the top of the automotive industry in investment value.

Representing ROE into the chain of factors (See Figure 2) we can conclude in a favor of highly positive and increasing financial leverage in the analyzed period which means very efficient and profitable use of the debt by the company.

FIGURE 2 Du Pont analysis

		Computed finance leverage
1999	2.7% X  0.92  X 1.19 X 9.54 X -2.24	11.35
1998	3.8% X 1.05 x 0.86 x 4.75 x 0.44	4.09

THE BMW SEGMENTS PERFORMANCE  (See Figures 3,4)

The result of ordinary business activity in the BMW Automobile segment was up by 5.1% to 2.106 million euro. Generated by BMW automobile ROI has increased from 20.46% in 1998 to 20.83% in 1999.  This branch also generates the highest earnings on sales 8.56% in 1999.  

Sales in BMW Motorcycles segment rose significantly by 17.8% to 769 million euro. This allowed an improvement of the operating result up by 12.5% comparing to the previous year.

Sales in the Rover Automobiles was up by 2% over the previous year to 8 368 million euro. The losses in the Rover Automobiles due to the market conditions and currency effects were up by 250 million euro to 1 207 million euro or 26.1%. The ROI drops from –16.77 % in 1998  to – 19.23% in 1999. The return on sales declines from -11.30% in 1998 to -13.97% in 1999.

FIGURE 3 The BMW segments performance

	assets,		sales		result from ordinary
BMW segment	million euro		million euro		bus. activities, mil. euro
	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998
BMW automobiles	10108	9792	24610	21980	2106	2003
Rover automobiles	6277	5705	8638	8466	-1207	-957
BMW motorcycles	313	303	769	653	18	16
Financial Services	20530	15287	6153	5771	316	298

FIGURE 4 The BMW segments ratios[2]

	return		return
BMW segment	on investment, %		on sales,%
	1999	1998	1999	1998
BMW automobiles	20.83%	20.46%	8.56%	9.11%
Rover automobiles	-19.23%	-16.77%	-13.97%	-11.30%
BMW motorcycles	5.75%	5.28%	2.34%	2.45%
Financial Services	1.54%	1.95%	5.14%	5.16%

The Financial Services division was successful; sales increased by 6.6% to 6 153 million euro. The result in this segment of the BMW Group increased by 6% to 316 million euro.

 

COMPARISON WITH THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY  

The main competitor of BMW Group takes the greater share of automobile market.

The total balance sheet value of Ford Motor Company exceeds 7 times correspondent value of the BMW Group. Sales of Ford Motor Company counted 7220 thousand of vehicles (136973 million of dollars) against 1187 thousand of vehicles (34677 million of dollars) sold by BMW Group in 1999.[3]  See Exhibit 2 to compare financial performance of the companies.

 

 INVESTMENT OVERVIEW

The BMW ordinary share is listed since 1926. After the currency reform BMW shares were traded as shares with a par value of DM 50, DM 100 and DM 1000. In 1989 BMW introduced preferred shares – traded with a par value of DM 50. The preferred shares are in contrast to ordinary shares non-voting shares, but bear an extra dividend. In 1999 BMW Group introduced the 1 Euro per value share. As of December 31, 1999 the subscribed capital of BMW AG amounted to EUR 670,687,730 and comprised of  622,227,918 ordinary shares and 48,459,812 preferred shares.

Now BMW shares are listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Group index for companies applying principles of sustainability. The 200 companies making up the index have been selected from  more than  2000 international companies   basing on the survey conducted   by Swiss investment and rating agency SAM    Sustainability Group. The rating is based on benchmark criteria such as technological leadership, social and environmental compatibility, personnel management, management culture, productivity, growth. The company is accordingly recognized as the worldwide leader in the automobile sector.

  FIGURE 5

     During 1999 BMW ordinary and preferable share trends kept with market trends (See Figure 6). Uncertainty about development at Rover decreased the share price in the first half of the year.  Then the successful development of the BMW brand and the market’s growing confidence in successful outcome of the restructuring measures at Rover pushed up the price. On the last day of the month year-end price  was 30.65 euro and the BMW ordinary share lay 22 % above the price quoted in the previous year, beating CDAX automobile index. While the BMW preference share in contrast was enable to turn in the same result as the ordinary share. The closing price of 14 euro put the preference share 5% bellow the previous year price.

In the course of a decade, investors who bought shares at the beginning of 1990 have achieved an average annual return of nearly 19 %. Over the past 5 years yields have been high as 24 % (yields on federal bonds only reached 7 % respectively).

In the first half of the year 2000, BMW common stock showed a better development than the shares of any other German car manufactures. Compared with the value of 25.42 on 30 June 1999, stock value has increased in the meantime 24.7% to euro 31.70.

 

QUESTIONS:

1)      What do you consider to be the main strengths and weaknesses of the BMW from the economic and financial side?

2)      Give your intuition about 2000 performance of Ford Motors Company and BMW Group.

3)      Would you invest in BMW preference share and why?

4)       Evaluate the contribution of BMW Group segments on overall company performance.

EXHIBIT 1 THE BMW GROUP FINANCIAL ANALYSIS – MAIN RATIOS AND INDICATORS

	1999	1998
LIQUIDITY
Current ratio (current assets/current liabilities[4])	2.13
ACID TEST (liquid funds/current liabilities)	0.16
DEBT[5]
Quantity
debt/(debt + equity)	89%	80%
Quality (current liabilities/debt)	39%
Cost of debt (interest paid/debt)	6%	7%
ASSET MANAGEMENT
ASSET TURNOVER
sales/assets	0.92	1.05
sales/fixed assets	3.92	4.13
DAYS
collection period (trade receivables/sales x 365)	25.64	22.91
credit period (trade payables/sales x 365)	23.74	20.64
EXPENSES
production cost/sales	83.59%	83.96%
marketing and administration cost/sales	13.66%	12.84%
total expenses/sales	97.25%	96.80%
PERFORMANCE
(sales 98 - sales 99)/sales 98	6.6%
results from ordinary business activities, mil.euro	1111	1061
net income/loss, mil.euro	-2487	462
cash flow, mil.euro	2807	2479
MARGIN AND PROFIT
ROS (profit/sales)	2.71%	3.82%
gross profit/sales	16%	16%
ROI (EBIT[6]/assets)	2.48%	4.02%
ROE net profit/equity (after extraordinary result)	-63.25%	7.17%
KEY DATA PER SHARE
dividend in euro                                      ordinary share	0.4	10.23
preference share	0.42	10.74
Cash Flow Per Share	4.19	3.71
shareholders equity	5.47	9.28

EXHIBIT 2  SELECTED BMW AND FORD RATIOS IN COMPARISON , 1999

	BMW	FORD
LIQUIDITY
Current ratio	2.13	1.98
DEBT[7]
Quantity (total liabilities/total funds)	89%	90%
Quality (current liabilities/debt)	39%	17%
ASSETS MANAGEMENT
ASSET TURNOVER (sales/assets)	0.92	0.50
DAYS
collection period	25.64	10.04
credit period	23.74	38.51
SALES
(sales 99 - sales 98)/sales 98*100%	6.6%	15.0%
EXPENSES
production cost/sales	83.59%	86.91%
marketing and administration cost/sales	13.66%	6.97%
total expenses/sales	97.25%	93.88%
MARGIN AND PROFIT
ROS (profit/sales)	2.71%	6.12%
GROSS PROFIT (gross profit/sales)	16%	13%
ROI (EBIT/assets)	2.48%	3.03%
DUPONT ANALYSIS /ROI
(EBIT/sales x sales/assets)	2.71%  X  0.92	6.12%  X  0.50
ROE (net profit/equity) before extraordinary result	16.86%	26%
ROE (after extraordinary result)	-63.25%

 

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The 1999 BMW Group´ structure is given.

[2] The segment ratios are calculated respect to result from ordinary business activities

[3] The figure are given in million of dollars, the exchange rate 1 euro = 1.008 USD.

[4] There is not available information to distinguish current liabilities in 1998 in BMW notes to balance sheet. In 1999 a group of liabilities up to 1 year without pension and other provisions is considered as “current liabilities”.

[5] Debt is considered as liabilities without pension provisions.

[6] EBIT IS calculated like: Gross earnings from sales – Sales and marketing cost – General administration cost + Other operating income – Other operating expenses.