Ford Reports $123M 2nd Quarter Loss

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it lost $123 million in the second quarter due mainly to the costs of shedding personnel as the nation's second-biggest automaker signaled it plans additional steps in its restructuring effort.

The loss of 7 cents per share for the April-June period contrasts with a profit of $946 million, or 47 cents per share, in the second quarter of last year. Revenue fell to $41.97 billion from $44.55 billion.

Wall Street had been expecting a profit of 12 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

The company said it had a pretax loss of $797 million in North America, an improvement over last year's $907 million loss in the second quarter due mainly to cost reductions, higher sales incentives and adverse foreign currency exchange rates.

"We've seen an improvement in North America results in the second quarter, but the external factors we face aren't going to get any easier," Chairman and CEO Bill Ford said in a statement.

Analysts have criticized the company for keeping quiet on its restructuring progress, but Bill Ford said the company will discuss "additional actions" within the next 60 days.

The company took a charge of $171 million, or 6 cents per share, to shed employees at plants it is idling. It also took a related charge of $315 million, or 11 cents per share, due to pension curtailments due to employee buyouts in the second quarter.

But the charges were partially offset by a gain of $148 million, or 8 cents per share, due to a gain that Mazda Motor Corp. took on the transfer of its pension liabilities to the Japanese government. Ford owns about a third of Mazda. Also offsetting the charges was a favorable adjustment of $146 million, or 5 cents per share, to a $1.7 billion charge for layoffs and termination packages in the first quarter, the company said.