Ford posts better earnings for Q1

DETROIT: Ford Motor Co, the No 2 US automaker, posted a higher-than-expected profit for the first quarter on Friday as the strength of its core North American unit offset weak results overseas, particularly in Europe, and higher taxes.

The automaker reported first-quarter net income of $1.40 billion, or 35 cents per share, down from $2.55 billion or 61 cents a share a year earlier.

About half of the 45 percent drop in quarterly net income was due to a higher tax rate after Ford made an accounting change late last year, it said.

Excluding one-time items, Ford reported a profit of 39 cents per share, compared with analysts’ estimates of 35 cents.

The decision to eliminate the so-called valuation allowance was a sign of Ford’s confidence in its profit outlook and raised the effective tax rate from about 8.5 percent to roughly 33.5 percent.

Revenue fell to $32.4 billion from $33.1 billion. Analysts had expected $31.27 billion.

Ford’s critical North American business unit reported its highest quarterly profit since 2000, when the automaker first broke out the region as a business unit. This region yielded an 11.5 percent operating margin, up from 10.3 percent a year earlier. reuters

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