Debt reduction pushes Ford to $2.3B 2Q profit - Yahoo! News

By KIMBERLY S. JOHNSON and TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writers Kimberly S. Johnson And Tom Krisher, Ap Auto Writers – Thu Jul 23, 8:16 am ET

DEARBORN, Mich. – Helped by a lightened debt load, Ford Motor Co. posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.8 billion Thursday, following the worst loss in company history a year earlier. Shares rose 8 percent.

The net profit ends a string of four straight quarterly losses for the nation's second-largest automaker, which has gained U.S. market share at the expense of crosstown rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., both of which spent time under bankruptcy court supervision. Ford last went into the black in the first quarter of 2008, with net profit of $70 million.
However, excluding its debt reduction and other items, Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford would have reported a quarterly loss, though smaller than Wall Street expected.

Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said the improved second-quarter results are a sign that the company's cost cuts and emphasis on new products are paying off. He stuck to Ford's earlier prediction that it would return to annual profitability in 2011.
"We're 18 months away, I guess," he told reporters on Thursday, adding that a full year of profitability hinges on improved auto sales in the U.S. and Europe.

Ford reported second-quarter net income of 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.7 billion, or $3.89 a share, for the same quarter a year ago.

The profit came because of a $3.4 billion gain due to debt reduction. In March Ford swapped stock and cash to reduce its loan and bond debt by $7.7 billion. The company has cut its debt by $10.1 billion for 2009, and is likely to take further steps this year to lower debt and raise cash.

But excluding special items, including the debt reduction, Ford would have lost $424 million, or 21 cents a share. Still, that beat analysts' expectations of a per share loss of 50 cents on revenue of $24.7 billion. Excluding special items, the company lost just over $1 billion in the second quarter of last year.

Ford spent $1 billion more in cash than it earned in the quarter, compared to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
Revenue totaled $27.2 billion, $11 billion less than a year earlier.
Ford is predicting a modest improvement in U.S. sales next year to about 12.2 million light vehicles. Sales so far this year have run below an annual rate of 10 million.

The company said it made $1.8 billion in structural cost cuts during the second quarter, with $1.2 billion coming in North America.
"We continue to make really good progress on cost reductions," Booth said.

Ford's shares rose 51 cents, or 8.2 percent, to $6.89 in pre-market trade on Thursday.

Twist Of Fate Or Justice Served? Ford Outsells Toyota For Third Month In A Row - AutoSpies Auto News

"For the third month in a row, Ford Motor Co. outsold the Japanese juggernaut in the United States, still a crucial and rich market amid this nagging recession. In June alone, the Dearborn automaker reported an 11 percent year-over-year decline in monthly sales to 148,153 cars and trucks, compared to Toyota's 34.6 percent slide to 131,654 vehicles.

And this: General Motors Corp. -- beleaguered and bankrupt, its dealer body jittery and brand image suspect, its only willing lender the Treasury -- so far this year has outsold Toyota 947,518 to 770,449, according to Autodata Corp. Partly evidence of Toyota's strong presence in, and dependence on, the imploding California market?

Yes, but what else?

For the first three months of the year, Toyota lost more money than Ford and even GM. Since then, the Japanese automaker has replaced its president with a scion of the founding family, 53-year-old Akio Toyoda, who promises a 'back to basics' push for the industry's richest automaker even as more troubles emerged in the first weeks of his new assignment."