Ford upbeat despite £555m loss

ONLY three months into a massive five-year restructuring plan, Ford Motor has reported its fourth consecutive quarterly loss of $800m (£555m) or 45 cents a share - three times higher than expected.

Despite the huge deficit, company officials assured investors that the view from the automaker's window was rapidly improving.

The first-quarter results were skewed downward by a one-off charge related to a change in accounting rules largely tied to the acquisition of British car repair chain Kwik-Fit. Excluding the charge, Ford's loss for the quarter was $108m or 6 cents a share, compared with the gain of $1.06bn or 56 cents a share last year in the same period.

Analysts had been expecting a loss of 15 cents. Ford chief executive William 'Bill' Clay Ford III said the quarterly performance underscored the early success of the restructuring he instituted late last year. He offered an upbeat forecast, following on the heels of General Motors, which said yesterday the outlook for the industry was improving.

Ford said the company would beat second-quarter estimates and was optimistic about the rest of the year.

'While there is still a great deal of uncertainty in our industry, the general economic climate is improving and we are on schedule to meet or surpass our 2002 earnings milestones,' it said.