BMW raised its dividend

FRANKFURT: BMW raised its dividend after reporting consensus-busting 2010 results, helped by strong sales growth in China.

The German carmaker said it would pay a 2010 dividend of 1.30 euros per share.

Full-year net profit jumped to 3.23 billion euros ($4.48 billion) from 210 million a year earlier, well above the consensus of 2.92 billion euros.

BMW said it aimed to post record sales of more than 1.5 million vehicles in 2011.

Earlier this week BMW said growth in Asia, Europe and the US boosted February sales of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles by 21.7 percent but warned growth would slow toward year-end.