BMW net profit reaches 3.13b euros in 2007

The German luxury car maker BMW posted a nine percent increase in 2007 net profit Thursday to 3.13 billion euros (4.88 billion dollars).
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial News had expected net profit of just 2.95 billion euros.
BMW's pre-tax profit fell however by 6.1 percent to 3.87 billion euros, it said in a statement.
The company added that it nonetheless expected 2008 unit sales to surpass the level set last year.
In early January, BMW said it had increased 2007 sales to 1.5 million vehicles.
After previously announcing that it would eliminate more than 8,000 posts to boost profitability, the company said Thursday that it would increase its 2007 dividend by 51.4 percent to 1.06 euros per common share.