A revitalized General Motors Co. today announced profits of $7.6 billion for the year ending 31 December 2011 after a strong performance in the US, but its European and South American operations are still losing money.
This figure represents a 62 percent increase over 2010 profits of $4.7 billion, despite a loss of $700 million across its Vauxhall/Opel plants in the UK and Germany—although this was an improvement over the 2010 loss of $1.3 billion in Europe.
Total revenues increased 11 percent to $150.3 billion, compared with $135.6 billion in 2010, while sales rose 7.6 percent to over nine million vehicles—overtaking Toyota to regain top spot in the auto manufacturers table.
“In our first full year as a public company, we grew the top and bottom lines, advanced our global market share and made strategic investments in our brands around the world,” said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO.
“We will build on these results as we bring more new cars, crossovers and trucks to market, and make GM a far more efficient global team. This includes reducing our break-even level in Europe and South America and driving higher revenues around the world.”
While GM’s report contained precious little detail about the outlook for 2012, the company said it expects to increase its top-line revenue year-over-year in an expanding global automotive industry.
“We are executing an aggressive product plan that will give customers around the world even more reasons to purchase a General Motors vehicle,” said Dan Ammann, senior vice president and CFO.
“Behind the scenes, we are working hard to eliminate complexity and cost throughout the organization to increase margins in all of our regions, and return Europe and South America to profitability. Overall, we have made good progress and we have more work to do.”
For a company that emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only a couple of years ago, this looks like an impressive turnaround to me.
