One-time gains drive Ford profit

Ford yesterday posted a US$2.3 billion (Dh8.44bn) quarterly profit on one-time gains as it narrowed its operating loss to $424 million. The second-quarter net profit, better than market expectations, resulted from special one-time gains of $2.8bn linked to debt reductions. That compared with an $8.7bn loss in the same period a year ago. The operating results, an important indicator of the struggling car giant's health, translated to a loss of 21 cents a share compared with Wall Street forecasts of 48 cents.

Revenue was also better than expected at $27.2bn, down $11bn from the same period a year ago as the company conducted a huge restructuring that included selling some operations. "While the business environment remained extremely challenging around the world, we made significant progress on our transformation plan," said Alan Mulally, the Ford president and chief executive. Ford said it "remains on track to achieve or exceed all of its 2009 financial targets and most of its operational metrics", and that it expected full-year market share in the US and Europe to improve compared with last year.

Ford is the only one of the "big three" Detroit car makers (with GM and Chrysler) to survive without a government bailout. In Asia, Hyundai, South Korea's largest car maker by sales, yesterday posted a 48 per cent jump in second-quarter net profit, aided by shareholding gains from affiliates in China and India, and tax incentives that boosted domestic sales. Net profit for the three months that ended on June 30 jumped to 811.9bn won (Dh2.38bn), its highest quarterly net profit, from 546.9bn won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Positive results also came from other sectors. The US defence contractor Raytheon yesterday reported a profit of $489m for the second quarter compared with $426m a year earlier. Sales rose 4 per cent to $6.1bn. Raytheon supplies Patriot missile defence systems and other military electronics to the UAE, among others. From the financial sector, investment banking helped Credit Suisse to beat second-quarter profit forecasts despite a large accounting charge as the bank continues to cut its balance sheet and win market share.

Credit Suisse said it made a net profit of 1.6bn Swiss francs (Dh5.51bn) in the three months to the end of last month, which compared with an average forecast of 1.4bn francs given in a Reuters poll. The bank's net figure was up 29 per cent from the previous year but down 22 per cent from a better than expected 2bn francs in the first quarter of the year Credit Suisse, which has overtaken UBS as Switzerland's largest bank by market value, has proved resilient in the subprime crisis but predicted conditions would remain tough.

* With Agencies