GM posts highest annual net profit ever

By Msnbc.com staff and wire

General Motors posted flat fourth-quarter income Thursday, but still managed to haul in?$7.6 billion worth of?net income in 2011, up 62 percent from the prior year.

It was the highest annual profit ever for the automaker, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2009 after a government-led bailout.

Full-year revenue rose 11 percent to $105 billion.

North America led the way with a $7.2 billion pretax profit. But problems surfaced that could hurt future earnings. GM lost $700 million before taxes in Europe, and lost $100 million in South America.

"We obviously have work to do still and a long way to get to the objectives we ultimately want to get to," GM Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann told reporters.

"We clearly have work to do in Europe. We have work to do in the South America business. Frankly, we have work to do all around the company in terms of cost opportunity," he added.

GM'S fourth-quarter profit was flat with 2010. GM earned $500 million, or 28 cents per share. Revenue rose 3 percent to $38 billion. Before one-time items, GM earned 40 cents per share. Analysts expected earnings of 42 cents on revenue of $37.9 billion.

The fourth-quarter earnings were likely to disappoint investors. Signs of that were in GM shares already, which were lower in pre-market trading.

Ammann said GM has not gone far enough in cutting costs in its European operations, but declined to provide a 2012 financial forecast for a unit that the No. 1 U.S. automaker has struggled to return to profitability. Overall, GM expects 2012 sales to top the $150.3 billion it saw in 2011 and its market share to remain flat.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Overall through the entire year the company has made progress but there is more work to do in Europe and South America, says Daniel Ammann, General Motors CFO, who adds, "The company has more work to do all across the company to get to the efficiency w...

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10424219-gm-posts-highest-annual-net-profit-ever

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