Booming US sales drive surge at Ford
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.FORD Motor Company followed its rival General Motors yesterday in reporting a stronger-than-expected profit for the first quarter, buoyed by booming US sales and the beginnings of recovery in Europe.
Net income from Ford's worldwide vehicle operations was dollars 955m ( pounds 650m), compared with dollars 176m for the first three months of 1993, with the lion's share of the gain coming from capacity car production in the US. Profits from outside North America doubled, however, to dollars 120m from dollars 63m. Excluding Jaguar, Ford's European operations made dollars 108m compared with dollars 19m a year ago.
Ford's strong car-making profits were the best since 1989, but were dissipated by weaker earnings among its financial services group, in particular by a dollars 440m charge to cover losses from the sale of First Nationwide Bank.
After the charge, Ford earned dollars 904m overall - or dollars 1.66 a share - compared with dollars 572m, or dollars 1.02 a share, for the same period in 1993. Excluding the charge, the company made dollars 1.3bn or dollars 2.54 a share, more than 30 per cent better than Wall Street's average estimate.
But Ford's share price dipped on the figures. The markets have come to expect profit surprises from the three US car-makers during the past year, and the one-off charges appear to have led individual investors to conclude prematurely that the US car sales boom has ended.
But the car-makers report that almost all their US factories are operating overtime. Ford said there was pent-up demand for 6.5 million vehicles in the US.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments