The German Automaker BMW agreed to pay a fine of more than a billion euros in response to accusations from the European Commission in the cartel agreement, the company said in a release.
On Friday, the European Commission informed BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen of its preliminary opinion that the companies in the past had violated EU antitrust rules for eight years by entering into a conspiracy. The preliminary decision by the European Commission is that the actions of car manufacturers could deprive consumers of the opportunity to buy less polluting cars.
“After consideration of the notice of claim BMW recognizes the estimated liability which is likely to exceed one billion euros,” – said in a statement.
It is noted that the payment of a fine will adversely affect the financial results of BMW for the first quarter of 2019. At the same time, the forecast of profit before tax for the current fiscal year remains unchanged, while the forecast for EBIT margin in the automotive segment is reduced by 1-1.5 percentage points from the target range of 6-8%, which was predicted earlier.
