Moody's boosts Ford

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Ford Motor Co. and Ford Motor Credit Co.'s corporate family and probability-of-default ratings to B2 from B3, secured credit facility to Ba2 from Ba3, senior unsecured debt to B3 from Caa1, trust preferred to Caa1 from Caa2, and speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3, and is reviewing the ratings for further upgrade.

Moody's said the upgrade of Ford's long-term ratings anticipates that the company's restructured business model will generate significantly improved operating and financial performance.

"Ford clearly has a much more robust and competitive business model that is capable of supporting significant improvement in performance over time. The key issue we're assessing is the degree to which this pace of improvement could be delayed by things like a slowdown in demand, or an escalating use of incentives by competitors," Bruce Clark, senior vice president with Moody's, said in a statement.

Ford's debt levels remain high and its current credit metrics are weak, the agency said, with a 2009 debt-to-EBITDA ratio of more than 13x.

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