Posted: 9:51 a.m. April 7, 2010 - Detroit Free Press

GM: Despite loss, chance of profit in 2010

Automaker lost $4.3 billion in 2nd half of 2009

General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker, today posted a $4.3-billion loss for the nearly six-month period following its emergence from bankruptcy last summer as a new company largely owned by the U.S. government.

The Detroit automaker said it generated $1 billion in cash on operations from July 10 until Dec. 31. The company said it generated $57.5 billion in revenue during that period.

The net loss of $4.3 billion includes the pretax impact of a $2.6-billion payment to the UAW retiree health care trust fund.

“As the results for 2009 show, there is still significant work to be done. However, I continue to believe we have a chance of achieving profitability in 2010,” GM Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said in a statement.

Today’s release marks an important milestone for the new GM as it releases its fresh-start accounting. It’s a major step that needed to occur before the company can go public again. GM executives have said an initial public offering could occur as soon as the second half of 2010.

“We are building the foundation that will allow us to return to public ownership,” Liddell said. “Completing fresh-start accounting is an important step in that process.”

Liddell recently told reporters that the automaker faces a reasonable chance at turning a profit this year.

In 2008, GM lost $30.9 billion. During that year’s third and fourth quarters, GM lost $12.1 billion.

The losses came as GM was marching on a path that ultimately led to a government-backed bankruptcy reorganization that lasted 40 days last summer.

The automaker has been working since then to implement a turnaround plan that is supposed to allow the company to break even in a U.S. sales market of just 10 million vehicles.

Through the first quarter of 2010, GM’s sales have increased by 16.8%. But the gains come after GM’s sales dropped 29.9% in 2009.

The industry’s seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate in March was 11.78 million vehicles.