Ford Q1 2014 Net Income Totals $989 Million

Ford Motor Company posted a first quarter net income of $989 million, representing the company’s 19th consecutive profitable quarter. This is $622 million lower than Ford’s Q1 2013 result, although it is significantly higher than General Motors’ Q1 2014 result of $0.1 billion, which was significantly affected by that company’s ignition recall woes.

Ford’s wholesale volume and revenue were up compared with this quarter last year, as the company expands in its Asia Pacific markets, most notably in China. Worldwide, Ford posted first-quarter revenue of $35.9 billion. The company now has a record market share in China of 4.5 percent (up 0.9 percent) thanks to new joint ventures and strong sales from the EcoSport, Kuga, and Mondeo models. Other profitable regions included North America and Middle East & Africa. On the other hand, Europe and South America incurred pre-tax losses of $194 million and $150 million, respectively, due to various factors including unfavorable exchange rates, higher costs, and lower sales volumes.

Ford continues to enact a transformation plan for the European market, which contributed significantly to the company’s $122 million in pre-tax special item charges. Europe did post a smaller loss than a year ago, with a $231 million improvement that made for a total pre-tax loss of $194 million. Ford anticipates that Europe will end 2014 with better pre-tax results than last year, and that the region will be profitable in 2015.

For the rest of 2014, Ford is predicting a total pre-tax profit between $7-8 billion, as the company is launching 23 new global vehicles throughout the course of the year.

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1404-ford-q1-2014-financial-results/#ixzz2zuvm4k3A