BMW badly misses Q3 pretax profit estimates

Frankfurt, Nov 6: BMW, the world's largest premium carmaker, posted a 6.3 percent rise in third-quarter pretax profit that fell far short of market expectations, but it reaffirmed its full-year forecast.

Earnings before tax increased to 765 million euros ($1.11 billion), badly missing the average estimate of 913 million euros from a Reuters poll of 20 analysts due to weaker than expected profits at its core automotive division and a significantly higher loss on its ''reconciliations'' line.

BMW continues to expect record pretax profit this year, excluding a one-off gain of over 370 million euros booked in 2006 from a Rolls-Royce convertible bond.

Reuters>