GM raises its estimated 2005 losses by US$2 million

Embattled US automaker General Motors Corp on Thursday raised its estimated loss for last year by US$2 billion to US$10.6 billion, citing increased restructuring costs and other charges.

The world's largest automaker also said that it intends to restate its earnings from 2000 through the first quarter of this year and delay filing its annual report due to recently discovered accounting irregularities.

GM is currently under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The announcement comes at a time when a number of analysts have cautioned that GM is at risk of being forced to seek bankruptcy protection.

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's said in a recent report that "time is short" for GM to reverse its losses.

GM has faced a steady decline in US market share and a sharp drop in income as consumers shy away from profitable but gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles.

The company announced plans last year to shutter 12 facilities and cut 300,000 jobs by 2008.

On Thursday, GM increased its estimate charge for that restructuring by US$400 million to US$1.7 billion to include payments that would be made to employees laid off after the current labor contract expires next year.

Under the current contract, laid-off employees whose jobs are eliminated are placed in a retraining program where they receive nearly full pay and benefits.

GM is currently in negotiations with its union aimed at reducing the number of workers in the retraining centers by offering early retirement buy-outs.

GM has also been pressured by its obligations to the employees of its bankrupt former parts subsidiary, Delphi Corp and is currently in the midst of negotiations with Delphi and the auto workers union UAW.

On Thursday GM increased the charge for pension and health care obligations to its former Delphi employees to US$3.6 billion after tax from the previous estimate of US$2.3 billion, and warned that a further update may be necessary.

The company statement also includes a previously reported after-tax goodwill charge of US$439 million at GM's financial services subsidiary.

GM said it would file last year's report with the SEC within the next two weeks "due to an accounting issue regarding the classification of cash flows at ResCap, the residential mortgage subsidiary of GMAC."

GM said it does not expect the erroneous classification of cash flows at GMAC to impact its net income but it will impact the presentation of cash flows from operating and investing activities.

"It's not the end of the world," Burnham Securities analyst David Healy said.

Healey said that GM still has about US$70 billion in cash and other financial facilities.