Ford swings to $100M profit in 1st qtr
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - April 24, 2008 The No. 2 U.S.-based automaker also said its latest round of
early retirement and buyout offers netted 4,200 hourly workers,
fewer than Ford had targeted.
It was Ford's first profitable quarter since the second quarter
of 2007 when it made $750 million. Ford reported a full-year loss
of $2.7 billion last year, and it cautioned that the rest of this
year will be tough.
"The remainder of 2008 will be a challenge but we are
cautiously optimistic despite the external challenges," CEO Alan
Mulally said in a statement. "Our plan is working."
Ford also lowered its industrywide U.S. vehicle sales forecast
for the full year to a range of 15.3 million to 15.6 million. In
January it had expected full-year sales of 16 million.
Ford says it earned 5 cents per share in the January-March
period. Dearborn-based Ford lost $282 million, or 15 cents a share,
in the same period last year.
Excluding special items, the company said it earned $525 million
after taxes, or 20 cents per share. That beat Wall Street's
expectations. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had
predicted a loss of 16 cents per share.
Its shares rose 43 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $7.95 in morning
trading Thursday.
The profit came despite a $45 million pretax loss in Ford's core
North American automotive market. That was an improvement over a
$613 million loss in the year-ago quarter, driven by $1.2 billion
in cost reductions that helped buffer a U.S. sales decline.
Company spokesman Mark Truby said Ford may offer additional
buyout and early retirement packages on a plant-by-plant basis to
further reduce its blue-collar work force.
Ford reported first quarter revenue of $39.4 billion, down from
$43 billion a year ago due to the sale of its Jaguar-Land Rover and
Aston Martin units. Excluding the sale, revenue would have been up
slightly, the company said.
Special items for the quarter totaled $416 million, including
worker buyout and early retirement costs and the cost of reducing
its dealer ranks.
Ford said it made $257 million pretax in South America, up from
$113 million a year ago. In Europe, it made $739 million, compared
with $219 million in the first quarter of last year.
Volvo had a pretax loss of $151 million, compared with a profit
of $94 million a year ago. It was the first quarter the company
broke out earnings for the Volvo unit.
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