The latest post-bankruptcy financial report from General Motors on Wednesday showed a company that has largely stanched the hemorrhaging in its day-to-day business, but is still cleaning up problems left over from its collapse last year.
GM said Wednesday that it had positive cash flow of $1 billion in the six months after it emerged from bankruptcy protection last July, but that it lost $4.3 billion in that period, mostly because of the cost of settling with the United Auto Workers union over retiree health benefits, one of the burdens that helped bring the company to its knees.
The automaker said that with those matters behind it and the economy improving, it expected to make a profit in 2010, echoing previous predictions, and that it had made progress toward that goal in the first quarter, without being specific.
Excluding one-time charges, the company lost about $600 million in the fourth quarter, its chief financial officer, Christopher P. Liddell, said.
“We don’t need to make that much improvement to get to profitability,†Liddell, who came to G.M. from Microsoft earlier this year, told analysts and reporters on a conference call. “It’s getting close to break-even if you get rid of those one-off items that happened in the fourth quarter.â€
The results comprise GM’s first official financial reportsince emerging from bankruptcy protection on July 10. Under “fresh-start†accounting principles, which reset valuations of assets and liabilities, the results are not directly comparable to those from previous quarters.
The report, covering the period from July 10 through December 31, listed $36.2 billion in cash reserves and marketable securities at year’s end. GM had $14.2 billion on hand a year earlier.
GM reiterated a commitment to pay off the balance of its debt to the American and Canadian governments by June. It made payments totaling $2.8 billion, including interest, in December and March toward an initial balance of $8.3 billion.
Most of the $50 billion GM borrowed was converted to a 61% equity stake held by the Treasury Department. The only way the Treasury can recover that debt is through the sale of its stock. Liddell said a public stock offering would occur “as soon as it makes sense,†but only “when the markets and the company are ready.â€
GM said it lost $4 billion in the fourth quarter, before interest and taxes, of which $3.4 billion was attributable to its troubled North American region. Its net loss for the fourth quarter was $3.4 billion, compared with $900 million from July 10 through Sept. 30.
Revenue for the new GM, which was created from the desirable assets of the company after its June 1 bankruptcy filing, was $57.5 billion. Closed plants and other “bad assets†remain in bankruptcy protection and are being liquidated.
The new accounting valued GM’s assets at $142 billion. Plants, property and equipment were assigned a value of $19 billion, a reduction of $18 billion. GM also listed $30 billion in goodwill, $16 billion intangible assets, like technology and brands, and $8 billion in equity and cost-based investments.
GM has not earned a full-year profit since 2004. It lost $88 billion between 2005 and its bankruptcy filing June 1.
The company planned to release its results for the first quarter of 2010 next month.
News courtesy: The New York Times
