Ford Motor Co surprised Wall Street yesterday with a US$100 million profit in the first quarter as strong results from Europe and South America helped offset the impact of a slumping US economy that cut car and truck sales in its main market.
The company also said yesterday its latest round of early retirement and buyout offers netted 4,200 hourly workers, fewer than Ford had targeted.
Ford says it earned US$0.05 per share in the January to March period.
The No. 2 US-based automaker lost US$282 million, or US$0.15 a share, in the same period last year.
Excluding special items, the company said it made US$525 million after taxes, or US$0.20 per share.
That beat Wall Street’s expectations. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had predicted a loss of US$0.16 per share.
It was Ford’s first profitable quarter since the second quarter of last year, when it made US$750 million.
Ford reported a full-year loss of US$2.7 billion last year and it cautioned that the rest of this year will be tough.
“The remainder of 2008 will be a challenge but we are cautiously optimistic despite the external challenges,” CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement. “Our plan is working.”
Ford also lowered its industry-wide US vehicle sales forecast for the full year to a range of 15.3 million to 15.6 million. In January it had expected full-year sales of 16 million.
The profit came despite a US$45 million pretax loss in Ford’s core North American automotive market.
That was an improvement over a US$613 million loss in the year-ago quarter, driven by US$1.2 billion in cost reductions.
Company spokesman Mark Truby said Ford may offer additional buyout and early retirement packages on a plant-by-plant basis to further reduce its blue-collar work force.
Ford reported first quarter revenue of US$39.4 billion, down from US$43 billion a year ago due to the sale of its Jaguar-Land Rover and Aston Martin units.
Excluding the sale, revenue would have been up slightly, the company said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS