From: Alejandro Valle Baeza (valle@SERVIDOR.UNAM.MX)
Date: Wed Jul 20 2005 - 09:21:14 EDT
July 20, 2005 G.M. Posts a Quarterly Loss of $1.1 Billion By REUTERS Filed at 8:27 a.m. ET DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. <http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=GBM(GM.N) posted an unexpected second-quarter loss on Wednesday as its core North American automotive business lost more than $1 billion. The result capped a nightmarish quarter for GM, which is struggling to regain market share from Asian rivals led by Toyota Motor Corp. <http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=TM(7203.T) and saw its debt cut to ``junk'' status by the Standard & Poor's rating agency in May. GM shares fell nearly 3 percent in pre-market trade. The world's largest automaker, which triggered alarm bells on Wall Street when it reported a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter, said its second-quarter loss totaled $286 million, or 51 cents per share. The results, which included several one-time items, compared with a profit of $1.38 billion, or $2.42 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, GM lost 56 cents per share in the quarter. On that basis, Wall Street analysts' average forecast was a profit of 3 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Earnings forecasts for GM have ranged wildly since it withdrew its earnings and cash flow forecast for the 2005 calendar year in April, citing uncertainty about its efforts to resolve a mounting ``health-care cost crisis.'' GM said its automotive operations lost $948 million in the second quarter, with a loss in North America alone of $1.19 billion. Like cross-town rival Ford Motor Co. <http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=F(F.N), GM has been hard hit by this year's dramatic slowdown in sales of mid- and full-sized sport utility vehicles, its most profitable models.
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