This is probably good news for us. When GM's happy, they have $ to put into innovation.
GM earnings jump 13 percent to $1.8 billion
(Last updated 5:22 PM ET January 20)
In DETROIT story headlined "GM earnings
jump..." first four paragraphs rewritten to show
operating earnings, excluding special items, beat
analyst expectations. A corrected story follows.
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp.'s fourth-quarter profits jumped 13
percent to $1.8 billion due to strong performance from its core North American
operations and aggressive cost-cutting, the world's biggest automaker said on
Wednesday.
GM's results on a per-share basis were $2.64, a record for a fourth quarter vs.
$2.29 in the year-ago period.
Included in the fourth quarter were total after-tax charges of $420 million to cover
the costs of an employee separation program and underperforming assets overseas.
Without the special items, GM said its fourth-quarter earnings would have been $2.2
billion or $3.25 a share on a fully diluted basis.
The operating results were above the First Call Corp. consensus analyst estimate of
$2.65 a share.
Revenues for the quarter rose to $46.4 billion from $42.9 billion after the company
ramped up production to recover from two labor strikes earlier in the year. GM's
results were driven by its North American automotive operations, which saw net
income more than double to $1.7 billion from $650 million.
After taking into account losses in Latin America and, Africa and Asia, the
company's total income from automotive operations was $1.5 billion vs. $831
million. The company's Delphi Automotive Systems supply unit had income of $280
million vs. $349 million in the year-ago period.
Separately, GM said it will pay about $200 each in 1998 profit-sharing checks to
231,000 employees in the United States. Last year, employees received $750 each.
GM also announced it would resume its share buy-back program in the first quarter
with a targeted completion date of the end of 1999. |
