Ford Earnings Down Venezuela Charge

By Mike Ramsey And Anne Steele 

Ford Motor Co. said fourth quarter net income plummeted to $52 million from $3 billion a year ago, as the company took a $700 million charge related to removing Venezuela from consolidated earnings dragged results down.

Last year, the company also had a special tax benefit that boosted earnings. Still, Ford's global revenues declined $1.7 billion in the quarter to $35.9 billion because of lower vehicle sales around the globe.

Adjusted for one-time costs, including the Venezuelan effort and costs related to cutting workers in Asia and Europe, it earned 26 cents per share, better than the 23-cent estimate of analysts polled by Thomas Reuters.

Ford's pretax operating profit for the quarter, excluding special charges was $1.1 billion, down from $1.3 billion a year ago. For the year, Ford posted a $6.3 billion operating profit. Ford maintained its forecast of pretax operating profits of $8.5 billion to $9.5 billion in 2015, and remained bullish that this year would be a rebound for the company, coming off a 2014 marred by costs related to recalls, South American currency devaluations and troubles in Russia.

North America, as usual, was the strongest market for Ford. Pretax profits fell to $1.55 billion from $1.8 billion the previous year. The annual regional profits of $6.9 billion mean union workers in the U.S. will be paid a profit-sharing bonus of $6,900. Ford didn't reap much of the benefit of having its Dearborn truck plant back online after shutting it for several weeks in the third quarter as production still was slow. Car makers book revenue when cars are built for dealers, not when they are sold to consumers.

Indeed, Ford's North American sales dropped by 44,000 units in the fourth quarter, which overcame sales increases in other regions.

Ford's losses in Europe shrunk to $443 million from $529 million last year. Ford finished its restructuring last year with the closing of its Genk, Belgium plant. Overall, Ford reduced capacity in the region by 18% and closed three plants.

South America's losses expanded slightly to $187 million from $126 million.

Asia-Pacific profits fell to $95 million from $109 million. Deliveries in the region rose only slightly.

Ford Motor Credit's profits rose to $408 million from $355 million a year ago.

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