Ford narrows loss and sees spin off deal
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday and said it was nearing a deal to spin off British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover.
Shares of Ford rose almost 5 percent in pre-market trading.
Ford said it expects to conclude a deal to sell Jaguar and Land Rover by early next year. By contrast, it said it would focus on improving results at its Swedish Volvo unit and start detailing the brand’s financial performance next year.
Ford also forecast a “substantial” year-over-year improvement in fourth-quarter results compared with last year’s pre-tax loss of $3.15 billion.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker posted a third-quarter net loss of $380 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with a loss of $5.2 billion, or $2.79 a share, a year earlier.
Ford’s loss from continuing operations, excluding one-time items, was 1 cent per share. On that basis, the average Wall Street forecast was a loss of 48 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Ford said it cut 6,800 jobs in North America during the quarter.
by Poornima Gupta
editing by John Wallace
source: news.yahoo.com & reuters.com
