Ford posts $2.7B profit for 2009; restores profit sharing with UAW | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Ford posts $2.7B profit for 2009; restores profit sharing with UAW

Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally talks about Ford's progress during the economic recession, Tuesday during a news conference at the Washington Auto Show. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. said it made $2.7 billion in 2009, its first full-year profit since 2005.
The automaker also said it will remain profitable in 2010, putting it well ahead of its stated goal of restoring profitability by 2011.
"While we still face significant business environment challenges ahead, 2009 was a pivotal year for Ford and the strongest proof yet that our 'One Ford' plan is working and that we are forging a path toward profitable growth by working together as one team, leveraging our global scale," said CEO Alan Mulally. "In every part of the world, we are providing customers with great products, building a stronger business and contributing to a better world. Our progress has helped us gain market share in most of our major markets."
 Ford's profit was a sharp contrast to the record $14.6 billion loss the company reported a year ago. Before taxes and excluding special items, the automaker's operating profit was $454 million.
And Ford plans to share its success with workers.
Under a profit-sharing agreement with the United Auto Workers, it will pay each of its 43,000 eligible U.S. hourly workers approximately $450. U.S. salaried workers will not be getting bonuses, but the automaker previously announced it was restoring merit pay increases and 401(k) matches that had been suspended.
The Dearborn-based company also reported fourth-quarter earnings of $868 million. Excluding special charges and taxes, Ford's fourth-quarter operating profit totaled $1.8 billion, or 43 cents per share. It was Ford's third consecutive quarterly profit, and significantly better than the 26 cents per share Wall Street had expected, according to a survey of 13 analysts by Thomson Reuters. "We believe Ford has the liquidity and clean balance sheet to make it to 2011, when it should consistently generate cash due to working capital inflows, higher production and structural and legacy savings," said analyst Eric Selle of JPMorgan prior to today's announcement. "Our enthusiasm is tempered by a lukewarm 2010 outlook due to higher advertising expenses, capital expenditures, raw material costs and interest expenses, as well as a tepid European forecast."

Ford profitable worldwide

For the fourth quarter, Ford's North American operations reported a pre-tax operating profit of $707 million, compared with a loss of $1.9 billion a year ago. The company attributed the gains to higher sales volumes, net pricing increases and lower materials costs.
In South America, the company reported a profit of $369 million, up from $105 million in the last three months of 2008.
Europe posted a profit of $305 million, compared with a loss of $338 million a year ago.
In Asia, the Pacific and Africa, Ford eked out a $19 million profit, compared with a loss of $208 million for the same period a year ago.
Ford's Swedish brand, Volvo, narrowed its loss to $32 million from $736 million a year ago. Ford is currently negotiating a sale of Volvo to a Chinese automaker.
The automaker's lending arm, Ford Credit, reported a pre-tax operating profit of $696 million, compared with a loss of $372 million a year ago. The company said the increase reflected lower residual losses due to higher auction values and lower provisions for credit losses.
Today's strong financial results are more good news for a company that has been riding high since sweeping the "Car of the Year" and "Truck of the Year" awards at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month.
Ford, which is four years into a painful restructuring that has seen it eliminate tens of thousands of jobs and close 14 factories, was the only U.S. automaker not to seek a federal bailout. It also was the only one to avoid bankruptcy.
Ford reduced its automotive structural costs by another $500 million in the fourth quarter. That brought its 2009 cost reduction total to $5.1 billion -- well ahead of its full-year target of $4 billion. The company said these improvements reflected lower manufacturing and engineering costs, a reduction in pension and retiree health care expenses, and lower advertising and sales costs.
Ford ended the year with $25.5 billion in cash reserves, nearly double the $13.4 billion it had at the beginning of 2009.
While Ford said it will remain profitable in 2010, the company cautioned that its costs will increase as it ramps up production to meet an expected increase in the demand for its cars and trucks. It said this year's cash flow will be less than it reported in the second half of 2009.
"We delivered very encouraging results in the fourth quarter and for full year 2009 despite severe economic headwinds, although our transformation remains a work in progress," said Lewis Booth, Ford's chief financial officer. "We are committed to staying absolutely focused on executing our plan to deliver profitable growth."
bhoffman@detnews.com (313) 222-2443

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100128/UPDATE/1280440/Ford-posts-$2.7B-profit-for-2009--restores-profit-sharing-with-UAW#ixzz0dv1zegMR

Ford posts $2.7B profit for 2009; restores profit sharing with UAW | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Ford's Foresight Will Put Them on Top

Ford's Foresight



This morning on the front page of MSNBC they ran the following article on Ford and Alan Mulally. They discuss Ford's current situation and the future of the auto industry. It is a good article. We think it should be noted that they attribute some of Ford's current situation to luck, and that can certainly be defended. However, it is ironic that once again Alan Mulally pulled up to Washington DC in a production Hybrid, while the other 2 CEO's of the Big 3 came in cocept vehicles. Ford was on the right path before the current problems began.



Ford’s foresight puts carmaker in pole position

Gerald Herbert / AP file

Ford’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in a new Ford Fusion hybrid vehicle.

MSNBC.com

Ford’s foresight puts carmaker in pole position

Sales are still dreadful, but the No. 2 carmaker is gaining share on rivals

By Roland Jones

updated 9:24 a.m. CT, Wed., May 6, 2009

As Chrysler makes its way through bankruptcy court and General Motors tries to avoid the same fate, Ford is emerging as the strongest of the Big Three automakers.

Ford has taken no federal bailout money, but it’s pulling ahead of its rivals because of well-timed financial planning and a focused and attractive mix of product. The automaker also is profiting from the troubles at GM and Chrysler.

“[Ford’s Chief Executive Alan] Mulally went out and got credit when it was available, and he has positioned the automaker with a global strategy using the Fiesta and the Focus,” said George Magliano, director of automotive industry research at IHS Global Insight. “So they have gone way up the ladder, and of course they look a lot better because they didn’t ask for a bailout.”

North American auto sales remain dismal, but Ford added market share in April, thanks to record sales of its fuel-efficient midsize Fusion. And with Chrysler in bankruptcy and likely to see sales continue to plummet, Ford will continue to gain, analysts say.

Ford sales were down 32 percent from a year earlier, but that was good enough to push past Toyota to reclaim its position as the nation’s No. 2 car company, with 16 percent of the market. GM, the largest automaker with 21 percent of the market, saw sales drop 34 percent. Chrysler, which filed for a government-engineered bankruptcy Thursday, reported the sharpest decline among major automakers, falling 48 percent.

Key to Ford’s success is its strong cash position. Two years ago, having just arrived in Detroit from Boeing and profiting from a stronger credit market, Ford’s Chief Executive Alan Mulally mortgaged every conceivable asset owned by the automaker — including the iconic blue oval Ford logo — to the tune of $23 billion to finance its turnaround plan.

Today, Ford has around $30 billion on hand, enough to finance its day-to-day operating needs until sometime in 2010, when the auto market is expected to pick up again, according to analysts.

Ford also has managed its product mix effectively, notes Tom Appel, associate publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive, a guide for car buyers. In mid-2008, when the price of gasoline topped $4 a gallon for the first time, Ford was best-placed out of all the big U.S. automakers to “roll into the recession” and handle the sharp rise in gas prices, he said.

While Chrysler had developed a suite of compact and midsize cars, including the Dodge Avenger and the Jeep Compass, that all looked similar and unrefined, and were not especially fuel-efficient, Ford and GM were producing stronger vehicles in these categories, Appel said.

Ford’s Fusion and Mercury, in particular, were perfect for when the recession hit and car-buyers “got conservative,” he said. Dodge’s midsize Avenger sold 1,400 units in April, but the Ford Fusion sold 18,000 units, Appel added. Ford also managed to work nice new interiors into the vehicles, and they have benefited from good press surrounding the introduction of the Ford Fusion hybrid.

“Ford didn’t spend a lot of money on the Focus; they didn’t redesign it, so when $4 gas came they had this vehicle ready, and so they could sell it cheaply when people started looking for cheaper transportation,” he said.

Chrysler in particular missed the mark on vehicle introductions, bringing out the redesigned Dodge Ram pickup truck and updated minivans just when the auto-buyer market was shifting to smaller vehicles.

“The Dodge Ram is an outstanding vehicle, but the market is not good for trucks right now,” Appel said. “They might have the best pickup ever made, but this is not the time to get the word out on it.”

The Obama administration has said it will backstop Chrysler warranties even with the automaker in bankruptcy, and has promised to extend the same protection to GM customers.

But a recent survey by research firm TNS Automotive shows 20 percent of customers are less likely to buy cars from an automaker that is operating with government help. That figure rises to 37 percent when bankruptcy is introduced, according to report on the findings by IHS Global Insight. Only 12 percent say they would support a car receiving government aid, with that number falling to 8 percent if the company files for bankruptcy, according to the report.

IHS Global Insight’s Magliano says Chrysler is likely to lose 40 to 60 percent of its sales volume in bankruptcy, and something similar could happen to GM if it is forced into bankruptcy protection. What’s more, Chrysler is cutting plants and scaling back production, which also will weigh on sales, he added.

“Despite the government guarantees for when you buy a car or a truck from these guys, this is a serious issue for the automakers,” Magliano said. “These sales will be lost and spread throughout the industry, and so we think Ford could see their sales volume increase by 30 or 40 percent because there are people out there predisposed to buy an American brand. That’s a significant amount of value for them.”

However, Ford isn’t out of the woods yet, notes Magliano. They’ve had luck getting money to survive on, but they still have too many plants and too many dealers, and also too many dealers in a shrinking and increasingly fragmented industry.

“And they’re counting on a significant recovery in sales at the end of this year, expecting annual sales to come in at the 12 million range, but we are looking at something more like 9.5 million or 10.5 million,” he said. “So there could be significant pressure on them at the end of this year; pressure they haven’t been counting on.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30576127/

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