BERLIN, March 15 (Xinhua) -- BMW is planning to cut its dividend for common stocks from 4 euros to 3.5 euros after net profits declined by 16.9 percent to 7.2 billion euros (8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the fiscal year 2018, the German luxury carmaker announced on Friday.

"2018 was a challenging year for the automotive sector as a whole. Nevertheless, we achieved the second-highest group profit to date," commented Harald Krueger, BMW chief executive officer.

BMW's profits before taxes declined by 8.1 percent to a total of 9.8 billion euros while sales of the German car manufacturer fell slightly by 0.8 percent to 97.5 billion euros, according to the Munich-based carmaker.

Amongst other factors, ongoing global trade conflicts would have "served to exacerbate the market situation and feed uncertainty," the Bavarian luxury carmaker announced.

BMW had already curbed its annual business expectations in September 2018. Back then, the introduction of the new WLTP emissions test procedure would have led to "considerable supply distortions" in Europe and an "unexpectedly intense competition".

For 2019, BMW's Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter is expecting "strong headwinds to continue to effect the entire sector".

Political uncertainties, the cooling of the global economy, rising production costs to meet regulatory requirements as well as exchange rate effects and rising raw material prices would be big challenges, according to BMW. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)