Ford: Losses Smaller Than a Year Ago
November 08, 2007

Ford reported Thursday morning a third-quarter loss of $380 million, a significant improvement from the $5.2 billion loss in the year-ago quarter. Ford credited the smaller loss to cost cutting -- mostly from plant closings and job cuts -- and improvements in its automotive operations.

Excluding one-time cost items, the loss was $24 million, compared with a loss of $850 million a year ago. The results were better than analysts had predicted.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally, in a Thursday morning conference call on third-quarter earnings, said the automaker continues to be on track to be profitable in 2009. Ford CFO Don LeClair said in the call the automaker is "ahead of or equal to plan in all areas" and for the full year of 2007, Ford will report a small loss to break even, excluding any special items.

Ford executives refused to discuss details of the recently negotiated labor contract with the UAW, which is holding ratification votes, likely completed next week.

Mulally said after ratification, Ford will detail the contract, which he said makes the automaker significantly more competitive.

Mulally and LeClair said in the call that automotive operations worldwide showed a $1.5 billion improvement in the third-quarter over the same quarter a year ago. Most of that improvement came from South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific. Lower losses from the Premier Automotive Group also contributed.

Ford's third-quarter revenues rose to $41.4 billion from $37.1 billion a year ago. Ford said the rise was due to higher net pricing, changes in currency exchange rates and an improved model mix.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:25 AM under Featured , Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine