Ford Reports Smaller Loss Of $380 Million For 3rd Quarter

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) _ Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million on Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier. <br/><br/>The latest results beat Wall Street

Thursday, November 8th 2007, 7:07 am

By: News On 6

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) _ Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $380 million on Thursday, a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.

The latest results beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading.

But it was a worse performance than the $750 million profit Ford reported for its second quarter, its first profitable quarter in two years.

The overall net loss amounted to 19 cents per share for the July-September period in contrast to a loss of $2.79 per share in the third quarter of last year.

Much of the loss was attributed to $350 million in special items, including an offer to exchange preferred securities and personnel reduction costs in Europe and with its Premier Automotive Group.

The struggling automaker also reported a $1 billion pretax loss on its home turf, North America, but that was an improvement over the $2.1 billion it lost in the year-ago period.

Ford also said it expects to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units early next year, and it said it has completed a review of Volvo and plans to improve its financial performance.

Without special items, the company lost $24 million, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter. That far surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Fifteen analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to lose 46 cents per share excluding special items.

Its shares rose 34 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $8.58 in premarket trading.

The company reported revenue of $41.1 billion for the quarter, up from $37.1 in the July through September period last year.

Ford also said it has shed 25,900 hourly workers and 10,600 salaried workers since the end of 2005 as part of its restructuring plan. The reductions came mainly from buyouts and early retirement offers and have exceeded the company's plan for 2008, Ford said.