DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million on Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.
The second-biggest U.S-based automaker said it is near a deal to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units but its CEO said there are no plans to sell its Volvo business.
The latest results beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose more than 2 percent in morning trading.
But the loss contrasted to the $750 million profit Ford reported for its second quarter, its first profitable quarter in two years.
The net loss amounted to 19 cents per share for the third quarter in contrast to a loss of $2.79 per share a year ago.
Much of the loss was attributed to $350 million in special items, including an offer to exchange preferred securities and personnel reduction costs in Europe and with its Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.
The struggling automaker also reported a $1 billion pretax loss in North America, but that was an improvement over the $2.1 billion it lost in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to $41.1 billion from $37.1 billion a year earlier.
Ford said it expects to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units early next year, and it said it has completed a review of Volvo and plans to improve its financial performance.
But it has no plans to sell Volvo, President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally said during a radio interview Thursday morning. The automaker said it would start disclosing Volvo results separately starting in 2008.
Without special items, the company lost $24 million, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter. That far surpassed Wall Street’s expectations. Fifteen analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to lose 46 cents per share excluding special items.
Ford reported a net profit of $88 million for the first nine months of the year, or 5 cents per share. Compared to the same period last year, Ford lost $6.99 billion, or $3.73 per share.
“We are on track to achieve our goal of profitability in 2009,” Mulally said in a conference call with reporters and analysts.
Its shares rose 19 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $8.43 in morning trading Thursday.
Ford said it has shed 33,600 hourly workers and 10,600 salaried workers since the end of 2005 as part of its restructuring plan. The reductions include factories in a holding company awaiting sale or closure and came mainly from buyouts and early retirement offers. Excluding the holding company, Ford said it is ahead of its plan to reduce the size of its work force.
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