Ford Motor Co. returned to profitability in the second quarter and showed signs of stabilizing as the company continued to win customers from its Detroit competitors.
The car maker reported a profit of $2.3 billion, though that came mainly from gains it recorded as part of efforts to restructure its debt during the quarter. Excluding those gains, Ford would have reported a loss of $424 million, still narrower than a comparable loss of $1.03 billion a year earlier and much better than Wall Street analysts were expecting.
The earnings suggest that the deep downturn in Detroit may have bottomed out and at least one member of the Big Three has figured out how to stabilize its business at a much lower sales volume.
The results also underscore the assessment of Chief Executive Alan Mulally as a rising star in an industry he entered only three years ago.
Ford remains on track to break even or make money in 2011 and has sufficient liquidity to fund its turnaround plan, Mr. Mulally, a former Boeing Co. executive, said Thursday.
Once seen as the industry's sickest company, Ford underwent a wrenching cost-cutting period. It closed plants, shed brands and laid off more than 40,000 employees. It also borrowed $23.5 billion from private lenders by mortgaging almost everything of value at the company.
In the last year, a leaner Ford was able to shun a government bailout and avoid bankruptcy, recasting itself as a U.S.-based car maker with enough new products and global reach to survive the auto-sales downturn.
A key indicator of Ford's relative success has been its increasing ability to manage cash burn, the issue that caused General Motors Co. to stumble close to insolvency. Ford used about $1 billion in cash during the second quarter, far less than the $3.7 billion in the first quarter. That left the Dearborn, Mich., company with $21 billion in gross cash in its automotive operations.
Ford's rate of cash use fell largely as a result of limited spending on buyer incentives and increased production at its North American plants.
To be sure, Ford remains saddled by massive debt and declining sales in one of the worst auto markets in recent history. And Ford doesn't expect to repeat the one-time gains from debt restructuring.
For the recent quarter, Ford reported earnings of 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.67 billion, or $3.89 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $27.2 billion from $38.6 billion a year earlier. Ford blamed the slump on the 33% year-over-year drop in the annualized sales rate for the U.S. vehicle market.
Nonetheless, Ford executives predicted a rosier second half of the year, saying for the first time that they expect to gain market share for 2009 in both the U.S. and Europe. Cash outflow also is expected to abate for the second half.
Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth cautioned that a slower-than-expected economic recovery or a disruption of the industry's parts supply could tamp down Ford's optimistic outlook.
The company's debt at the end of the second quarter totaled $26.1 billion. Ford's decision to decline U.S. aid or file for bankruptcy protection may have created consumer goodwill, but rival GM was able to eliminate about $40 billion in debt. Chrysler Group LLC similarly exited bankruptcy with lower financial obligations.
But Mr. Mulally said the bankruptcy reorganizations and debt reductions at Ford's rivals haven't put his company at a disadvantage. Ford reduced its own debt by $10.1 billion in the second quarter while raising $1.6 billion through new stock. At the same time, it reduced the cost of running its business by $1.8 billion.
'I think it's great cars and a very strong business' that are drawing more people to Ford, Mr. Mulally told analysts and journalists during a conference call.
According to Standard and Poor's, GM and Chrysler lost market share in the U.S. through the first six months of 2009, while Ford's rose slightly to 15.9% from 15.3%. GM's share for the first six months was 19.8%, compared to 21.5% in the same period in 2008. For Chrysler, the figure was 9.8%, down from 11.7%.
And for the first time in about three years, Ford's internal data are showing that consumer opinion about the brand is improving by a significant margin.
福特內部數據三年內首次顯示﹐消費者對品牌的看法開始大為改觀。
HC 評
此the brand 表示Ford 而非"品牌"
MATTHEW DOLAN / JEFF BENNETT
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