Ford posts best quarterly profits in its history

(April 29, 2016) DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford on Thursday posted the highest quarterly pretax profit in its 113-year history and its best-ever results in North America, driven by higher sales of the redesigned F-150 and a retooled lineup of SUVs. Ford executives said they believe the strong quarter sets the company up to best last year’s record pretax profit of $10.8 billion.

Highlights include:

    • Record quarterly pre-tax profit of $3.8 billion, up $2.1 billion; net income of $2.5 billion, up $1.3 billion; after-tax earnings per share of $0.68, excluding special items, up $0.39 from a year ago

    • Strong automotive operating-related cash flow of $2.7 billion, a first quarter record

    • Record automotive pre-tax profit of $3.3 billion, up $2.0 billion; Automotive operations outside North America profitable in total

    • Record automotive operating margin of 9.8 percent

“Essentially everything has improved,” Ford CFO Bob Shanks told reporters at the automaker’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. “We’re reconfirming all of our guidance to be as good as if not better than the record year that we had in 2015.”

Shanks said Ford’s results were boosted by a strong sales mix and lower costs globally. In North America, a $1,500 per-vehicle jump in average transaction prices essentially canceled out the effect of higher incentives, but the results show a drop in net pricing to account for a significant increase in F-150 inventories, Shanks said.

Sources: Ford Motor Company, Automotive News