Dana 4Q Loss Narrows On 2007 Costs; Sees Worse 2009

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Dana Holding Corp. (DAN) posted a slightly narrower fourth-quarter net loss on $102 million of prior-year reorganization costs while the auto-parts maker's results missed analysts' expectations as the company continues to struggle from tumbling North American auto production.

Chairman and Chief Executive John Devine said Dana, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in February 2008, faces a 2009 expected to be "even more challenging than 2008."

U.S. auto-parts manufacturers are suffering as auto makers struggle with plunging sales. The drop in business, combined with a credit crunch that has choked off access to rescue financing, could prove disastrous for an industry already hit by bankruptcies.

Despite its exit from Chapter 11 last year, Dana has faced trouble in the past several months: The New York Stock Exchange warned that its stock could be delisted for trading below $1, Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service both cut the company's credit ratings deeper into junk territory and Dana said it will close up to 10 more plants than expected this year and next, on the heels of 5,000 job cuts in 2008.

Dana's fourth-quarter net loss narrowed to $256 million from $257 million a year earlier amid the 2007 bankruptcy-reorganization costs. On a per-share basis, the latest quarter's loss was $2.64.

Net sales tumbled 30% to $1.52 billion amid the auto-production woes and the stronger dollar.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of $1.43 a share on revenue of $1.72 billion.

Cost of sales exceeded net sales by $27 million in the latest quarter. The year-earlier gross margin was 5.9%.

Dana's shares closed Friday at 31 cents and there was no premarket trading. The stock is down 95% the past six months.

-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5658; [e-mail]