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German luxury carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) raised its dividend after reporting consensus-busting 2010 results, helped by strong sales growth in China, the world's biggest auto market.
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Premium and mass carmakers are looking to fast-growing markets like China as mature markets struggle for sales growth.
The German carmaker, which sells Rolls-Royce and Mini cars as well as the BMW brand, said on Thursday it would pay a 2010 dividend of 1.30 euros, more than the 1.24 euros forecast.
BMW shares were down 0.6 percent by 1037 GMT, outperforming a 1.4 percent lower European autos index .SXAP.
BMW said it aimed to achieve record sales of more than 1.5 million vehicles in 2011.
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Ruland Research strategist Heino Ruland said: "The outlook is particularly positive, as BMW kept it despite the high costs for raw materials. Even though no concrete profit outlook has been given, the confirmation of the unit sales target and margin is good news."
Full-year net profit jumped to 3.23 billion euros ($4.5 billion) from 210 million a year earlier, compared with a forecast for 2.92 billion.
BMW said it sold over 1.4 million units in 2010. Germany remained its largest single market, with 267,160 BMW and Mini cars sold.
In market number two, the United States, it recorded a 10.1 percent sales increase to 266,580 units.
China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, the third-biggest region for BMW, saw an 85.3 percent increase in sales to 183,328 units.
