Ford says it is posting a second quarter post-tax operating loss of $424million, excluding special items, ($638 million post-tax) but the automaker says it is on track to be profitable by 2011. That compares favorably with last year’s $1.4 million loss during the same period despite dramatically reduced industry-wide sales.
Ford says it gained market share in all of its regions and that it posted a net profit of $2.3 billion due to debt-reduction actions. The automaker also burned through less of its cash reserves – $1 billion in the second quarter compared to $3.7 billion in the first quarter and $7.2 billion in the last quarter of 2008.
Total revenue dropped 29 percent to $27.2 billion. Ford says it has about $21 billion in reserves, down a bit from the $21.3 billion it had at the end of the first quarter. Analysts say that Ford needs about $10 billion to operate.
“Because the second quarter cash was so good, we’re not sure we’re going to get a sequential improvement in the third quarter,” Ford CFO Lewis Booth said in an interview with the media, though he confirmed that Ford expects to burn less cash overall in the second half of the year.
Ford Credit posted a pre-tax profit of $646 million.
Ford’s Volvo unit, which the automaker is still attempting to sell, loss $231 million on its own – up from the $120 million it lost a year ago. Revenue was down $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion.
