Ford Earns $2.1 Billion Profit In First Quarter
The Ford Motor Company today announced that it has earned a net profit of $2.1 billion in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
The Chief Executive of Ford Alan R. Mulally expressed hope that the company would continue to record “solid profits” and positive cash flow this year. Ford had lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter of last year.
“The Ford team around the world achieved another very solid quarter, and we are delivering profitable growth. Our plan is working, and the basic engine that drives our business results — products, market share, revenue and cost structure — is performing stronger each quarter, even as the economy and vehicle demand remain relatively soft,” said Mullaly in an interview to AFP.
Ford is the only one of the three Detroit automakers, which had not received bailout fund from the government. Ford also defied the predictions of the analysts, who had projected a first-quarter profit of 31 cents a share, by registering a profit of 46 cents a share.
The automobile giant made a profit of $1.2 billion in North America, and announced that it would build 625,000 vehicles in the United States and Canada in the second quarter of this fiscal year. “This is a more encouraging start to the year than we anticipated.
The fact that we’ve got our cost structure under control is also helping the bottom line,” said Ford’s chief financial officer, Lewis W. K. Booth in an interview to AFP.
However, Booth admitted that the company might not make similar profit on the next three quarters. “It would be unwise to think of $2 billion as a running rate for the year,” he said.
