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Business News in Brief
Debt reduction pushes Ford to$2.3b profit
Al’, Dearborn. Michigan
Ford Motor Co posted a surprise second-quarter profit of $2.8 billion Thursday, due to income related to a reduc tionofdebt.
The nation's second-largest automaker said it earned 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $8.7 billion, or $3.89 a share, for the same quarter a year ago. That quarter was the worst in Ford's history.
Excluding special items, including the debt reduction, Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford would have lost $424 million, or 21 cents a share, far surpassing analysts' expectations. Analysts polled Thomson Reuters expected a per share loss of 50 cents on revenue of $24.7 billion.
Excluding special items the company lost just over $1 billion in the second quarter of last year.
The second-quarter profit came because of a $3.4 billion gain due to debt reduction. In March Ford swapped stock and cash to reduce its loan and bond debt by $7.7 billion. The company has reduced its debt by $10.1 billion this year, and is likely to take additional action this year to further cut debt and raise cash.
Ford spent $1 billion more in cash than it earned in the quarter, compared to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
Revenue was $27.2 billion, $11 billion less than the comparable quarter a year ago.
Shares of the company rose 34 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $6.72 in pre-market trade.
French industrial confidence edges up
AFP, Paris
French industrial confidence edged up in July for the fourth month running but remains low after collapsing early in the year, official data showed onThursday.
The industrial confidence index moved up two points to 78 points, the national statistics institute INSEE said.
In March, this leading indicator of the business climate had fallen to the lowest point snee it was created, 68 points, after 15 months of falls in a row.
It then began to firm and reached 76 points in June, a revised figure from INSEE showed.
"Company leaders questioned in July said that the industrial situation was improving slightly," INSEE said.
"Business people in the manufacturing industry believe that the fall in their activity which they have experienced has eased up to some degree."
But, INSEE also said: "Given their own expectations for output, the drop in activity is likely to continue for the next few months, but at a more moderate rate."
The view of industrialists about the outlook for industrial activity in general was not improving and remained negative, at minus 40 points as in June, after a low point of minus 76 in February, INSEE said.
German govt still prefers Magna's bid for Opel
AFP, Berlin
The German government still prefers the bid of Canadian auto parts firm Magna to take over struggling General Motors subsidiary Opel, a spokesman said Wednesday, following an initial assessment.
Berlin had already expressed a preference for Magna's bid, backed by Russian bank Sberbank, before receiving other offers from Belgium-based investment group RHJ International and Chinese company BAIC, spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told a regular briefing.
"This assessment... has been confirmed following our examination (of the bids),” he added, following a meeting of the government's "Opel task force” with GM executives,.
While the final decision lies with GM, the German government is involved as it is set to stump up billions of euros (dollars) in loan guarantees to sweeten any takeover deal in a bid to save tens of thousands of jobs.
Berlin and GM "want to come to a joint assessment in the coming weeks," with the hope of wrapping up the already lengthy saga in the next few months, he said.
"You know that the federal government is not the seller. At the end of the day, we can only decide about the loans and loan guarantees. The seller is GM.
"Conversely, a sale can only occur in a sustainable fashion after the governments in Europe assure these loans and guarantees," he added.
British retail sales rise in June
AFP, London
British retail sales jumped in June as heavy discounting and sunny weather boosted consumer demand despite the recession, official data showed onThursday
Retail sales volumes rose 1.2 percent in June from Ma^ and soared by 2.9 percent compared with the same month in 2008, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement. That was the largest annual gain since December.
Sales were especially strong for clotlung and footwear stores, according to the ONS.
Market expectations had been for a smaller month-on-rnonth gain of 0.3 percent and a 2.1-percent annual rise, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
"There was some evidence of promotions, discounting and the sunny weather helping sales," said an ONS spokesman.