General Motors reported its second straight quarter of profitability this morning, something it hasn't done in many years. In fact, the first half of 2010 has been the automaker's best since 2004. In the April–June quarter, GM earned net profits of $1.3 billion on revenues of $33.2 billion. That works out to a fairly healthy $2.55 per share in earnings and follows up the first quarter nicely when the company earned $31.5 billion in revenue and $865 million in net profit. GM also managed to add $2.8 billion in cash to its coffers during the quarter, bringing its account balance up to $32.5 billion.
Overall, the General earned $2.0 billion before interest and taxes (EBIT), up from $1.8 billion in the first quarter. Accounting for most of that was the automaker's North American operations, which earned $1.6 billion before interest and taxes. GM Europe lost $0.2 billion before interest and taxes, but that's an improvement over the $500 million loss in the first three months of the year. Finally, GM's International Operations added $0.7 billion in earning before interest and taxes.
Credit for GM's performance goes to the recovering automotive market in the U.S. that has kept GM plants busy building popular models like the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain and Cadillac SRX triplets, as well as the international success of the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick's continued popularity in China.
The good financial news for GM has signaled to many analysts that the companies march towards an initial public offering (IPO) of its stock may start as soon as tomorrow with the filing of what's called an S-1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Not many details are known about the filing, but the sale of GM stock to the public will likely be one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history and help reduce, if not totally eliminate, the U.S. government's 60-percent stake in the automaker.
[Source: General Motors, Automotive News – sub. req. | Image: Dave Chidley, AP Photo/The Canadian Press]
https://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/12/general-motors-reports-1-3-billion-profit-in-second-quarter/
2010-08-12T10:27:00+00:00