The bleeding for now has stopped at Ford Motor Co. The sale of Aston Martin
for
$848 million and reduced spending on pensions and warranties helped
generate a $750 million profit for Ford ending two years of losses. Overall,
Ford announced Thursday it earned 31 cents a share versus a loss of $317
million, or 17 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Industry analysts
thought the company was at the brink of bankruptcy a couple of years ago as
losses mounted over slow sales of a lackluster product line, high heathcare
and pension costs, stronger competition from Japanese autocompanies — Toyota
Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. — and downgrades by credit rating agencies.
With a massive restructuring that included plant closings, asset sales and
labor concessions, Ford has slowly been able to turn things around. The recent
numbers show that, and if Ford can garner a suitable deal for its
high-end
Jaguar and Land Rover Brands, the company should be even healthier
financially. Private equity firms have reportedly shown great interest for
Jaguar and Land Rover, but they will have to contend with the recent tight
environment for financing for buyouts. — Gerald Magpily
See
Bloomberg article
TheDeal.com
March 12 article
Tags: Ford,
automobiles,
Jaguar
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