GM reports it earned $228 million in first quarter

Posted 9:04AM on Tuesday 16th April 2002 ( 23 years ago )

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. earned $228 million, or 57 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2002, the automaker reported Tuesday. Excluding special items and the effect of its Hughes Electronics unit, GM earned $791 million, or $1.39 a share. A survey of financial analysts by Thomson Financial/First Call predicted the automaker would earn $1.14 per share. The automaker also raised it full-year earnings per share prediction from $3.50 to $5. "Strong vehicle sales in North America coupled with cost reductions drove our profits improvement," GM president and chief executive officer Rick Wagoner said in a statement. GM's first quarter results included a $407 million restructuring charge related to changes in its European operations and three special items at Hughes that had a net unfavorable effect of $10 million after taxes. The automaker's North American operations earned $625 million during then first quarter of 2002, compared with $120 million during the same three month period a year ago. On Feb. 25, GM said it would earn $1.20 per share in the first quarter and revised upward its full-year estimate from $3 per share to $3.50. Both estimates exclude Hughes, which GM is in the process of selling to Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications Corp., and the costs of restructuring its European operations. Through aggressive cost-cutting, GM has reduced the number of vehicles it must sell to break even, from more than 5.4 million units in 1994 to "a little less" than 4.9 million, Wagoner said. One of the ongoing cost-cutting measures is the reduction in GM's salaried work force by 10 percent each year mainly through attrition and voluntary early retirements. In February, Wagoner said most of the previously announced head-count reductions in North America and Europe had been achieved. ------ On the Net: General Motors Corp., http://www.gm.com

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