BMW 2013 Annual Report Download - page 26

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18 COMBINED MANAGEMENT REPORT
18 General Information on the BMW Group
18 Business Model
20 Management System
23 Research and Development
24 Report on Economic Position
24 Overall Assessment by Management
24 General and Sector-specific
Environment
27
Financial and Non-financial
Performance Indicators
29 Review of Operations
47 Results of Operations, Financial
Position and Net Assets
62 Events after the End of the
Reporting Period
63 Report on Outlook, Risks and
Opportunities
63 Outlook
68 Risks Report
77 Report on Opportunities
81 Internal Control System and Risk
Management System Relevant for the
Consolidated Financial Reporting Process
82 Disclosures Relevant for Takeovers
and Explanatory Comments
85
BMW Stock and Capital Markets
nounced. Registration figures in Spain (+ 3.3 %) stabilised
at a very low level following the slump experienced in
previous years. The UK, by contrast, turned out to be in
good shape: boosted by a surprisingly strong economic
recovery, the UK car market grew by approximately 10.8 %
to 2.3 million units.
Japan’s car market consolidated somewhat in 2013 to
approximately 5.2 million units. In the previous year,
demand had still been exceptionally high, owing to the
backlog caused by the natural disaster.
Car markets in the major emerging economies felt the
effect of the economic slowdown, with the Russian mar-
ket
contracting by approximately 5.3 % to 2.6 million
units and the Brazilian market, at 3.6 million units,
also
falling slightly short of the previous year (– 1.2 %).
The decrease in India was more pronounced, with new
registrations down by 7.0 % to 2.5 million units.
Despite the continuing weakness of markets in Europe,
we came close to achieving the previous year’s sales
volume level and were thus able to buck the general
trend. Positive market developments in Asia and the
Americas also had a positive impact on unit sales of the
BMW Group in these regions.
Motorcycle markets
The world’s 500 cc plus class motorcycle markets were
3.0 % down worldwide on the previous year. Motorcycle
registrations in Europe fell by 9.1 %. Germany (– 0.7 %)
recorded a relatively moderate decline, in contrast to
France (– 11.2 %) and Italy (– 20.1 %), where the drops
were again on a double-digit scale. The US motorcycle
market remained roughly at the previous year’s level
(– 0.2 %).
Within this difficult market environment, the BMW
Group’s motorcycles business performed significantly
better than the general trend.
Financial Services
The situation on international financial markets seemed
to stabilise during the year under report. Lifting the
public debt ceiling in the USA helped to calm capital
markets. The Japanese Reserve Bank continued its ex-
pansionary monetary policy and kept the economy
propped up with massive support. The situation in the
eurozone also became more settled in 2013. The Euro-
pean Central Bank felt compelled to reduce its reference
interest rate to 0.25 % in an endeavour to maintain eco-
nomic momentum.
Greater worldwide economic stability also had a positive
effect on credit losses, with bad debt levels continuing
to fall in both the USA and Asia. Some signs of improve-
ment were also noticeable in southern Europe.
Price levels on international used car markets in 2013
remained more or less stable across all regions, including
southern European markets, where prices stabilised at
a low level.
The BMW Group’s Financial Services business also
profited from the general stabilisation of the world’s car
and financial markets.
Precious metals price trend
(Index: 31 December 2008 = 100)
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
09 10 11 12 13
Source: Reuters.
Palladium
Gold
Platinum