Ford posts highest fourth-quarter pre-tax profit in more than 10 years

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 29 - Ford Motor Co. ended the year with strong liquidity and year-over-year improvements in wholesale volume and total company revenues, according to comments made by president and chief executive officer Alan Mulally.

Mulally made his comments on Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the Dearborn, Mich.-based carmaker's preliminary 2012 fourth-quarter and full-year results.

"The company had a solid fourth quarter, achieving an operating profit for the 14th consecutive quarter and the highest fourth-quarter operating profit for the total company and the automotive sector since 1999, when trucks and SUVs were a more significant portion of our U.S. product mix," Mulally said on the call.

The fourth-quarter pre-tax profit was $1.7 billion, or 31 cents per share, up $577 million from 2011, according to a company news release. Net income for the quarter was $1.6 billion, or 40 cents per share.

Ford attributed its 2012 full-year pre-tax profit of $8.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, to record results from North America and continued solid performance from Ford Motor Credit Co.

Ford's North America pre-tax profit for the fourth quarter was up $1 billion at about $1.8 billion and came in at about $8.3 billion for the year.

For the year, Ford Credit reported pre-tax profit of $1.7 billion, net income of $1.2 billion and about $20 billion of available liquidity, according to Ford's presentation materials.

Automotive ended 2012 with gross cash of $24.3 billion and $34.5 billion of liquidity.

Ford's fourth-quarter net income was $1.6 billion, or $0.40 per share.

The company's full-year net income was down $307 million from 2011 at $5.7 billion, or $1.42 per share.

Ford paid $3.4 billion in 2012 to its worldwide funded pension plans as part of a long-term strategy to de-risk the plans.

In 2013, Ford will continue to focus on its strong performance in North America and at Ford Credit while addressing challenges and opportunities in other parts of the business, according to chief financial officer Bob Shanks.

"In Europe this means executing our transformation plan, while in South America we will continue to refresh our entire product line-up, and in Asia Pacific we will continue to invest for even stronger, profitable growth in the future," Shanks said.

Production increases

In the fourth quarter, total company production was about 1.5 million units, 125,000 units higher than a year ago and 13,000 units higher than Ford's most recent guidance.

For the full year, Ford said it produced 5.7 million units, up 54,000 from the prior year.

Ford expects first-quarter production to be about 1.6 million units, up 160,000 units from a year ago.

Compared with the fourth quarter, first-quarter production is up 72,000 units.

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