GM's $1.3 billion recall cost wipes out profit - Apr. 24, 2014
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/24/news/companies/gm-earnings...
GM RECALL
GM's $1.3 billion recall cost wipes out profit
By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney April 24, 2014: 10:36 AM ET
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
General Motors' recall crisis virtually wiped out its profit for the first three months of the year, as it said Thursday that the
cost of repairing millions of vehicles would come to $1.3 billion.
The cost of the recall and some other accounting charges left the company with a profit of only $108 million in the quarter.
The company recalled a total of 7 million vehicles during the quarter, most prominently 2.6 million with a faulty ignition
switch tied to at least 13 deaths. GM said it would spend about $700 million to fix that ignition switch, and another $600
million on other recalls.
While most of those repairs did not start until this month, the company booked the full cost of the recalls in the first quarter.
Still, the nation's largest automaker will be able to afford the massive recall cost. The earnings, excluding the special
charges, were better than expected by Wall Street analysts.
"It's an understatement to say the first quarter was challenging for General Motors," said GM CEO Mary Barra on a call with
investors. "Nonetheless the company remained profitable and I'm very proud of the way the team has kept it's focus on the
customers."
Shares of GM ( GM, Fortune 500) are down nearly 16% so far this year, but they rose more than 2% in morning trading
after the earnings report.
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GM's $1.3 billion recall cost wipes out profit - Apr. 24, 2014
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/24/news/companies/gm-earnings...
GM's CEO: Cost of fix 'not my focus'
Sales of GM models, even in the United States, have apparently not been hurt by the recall crisis, Barra told investors.
"We continue to be optimistic about 2014," she said.
Revenue increased 1% to $37.4 billion, and the number of vehicles sold rose 2% to 2.4 million. It reported record sales in
China, the largest market for car sales where GM sells more vehicles than it does in the United States.
The company ended the quarter with $27 billion in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet, up 11% from a year
ago. It was able to pay its first dividend in five years in the period.
Related: GM - Steps to a recall nightmare
The company had already warned of the charge to deal with a flood of recalls in the period. The company had originally
estimated that it would need a $300 million charge to deal with the cost of a recalls. But as the extent of the problem grew
larger and larger in the period, it raised its estimated cost to $1.3 billion.
First Published: April 24, 2014: 7:52 AM ET
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GM's $1.3 billion recall cost wipes out profit - Apr. 24, 2014
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