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Ford's $380 Million Loss An Improvement Over Last Year

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The Associated Press

Published: November 9, 2007

DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.

Although the performance was worse than its second-quarter profit of $750 million, Ford still was in the black for the year, and its executives said a turnaround plan is taking hold.

The second-biggest U.S-based automaker also said it is near a deal to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units, but its chief executive said there are no plans to sell its Volvo business.

The latest results beat Wall Street expectations, and Ford shares edged up 24 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $8.48 on Thursday. The net loss amounted to 19 cents a share for the July-September period compared with a loss of $2.79 a share in the third quarter of last year.

Much of the loss was attributed to $350 million in special items, including an offer to exchange preferred securities for common stock and personnel reduction costs in Europe and with its Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.

The struggling automaker also reported a $1 billion pretax loss on its home turf, North America, but that was an improvement over the $2.1 billion it lost in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $41.1 billion from $37.1 billion in 2006.

Without special items, the company lost $24 million, or 1 cent a share, for the quarter. That far surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Fifteen analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to lose 46 cents a share, excluding special items.

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