GM's Opel nightmare
February 16, 2012
General Motors on Thursday reported flat earnings for the fourth quarter of last year, missing higher market expectations. The company posted net income of $500 million (384.4 million euros), the same as a year ago.
Income stagnation happened despite rising sales overall that returned the US auto giant to the top rank globally. GM retook the top spot as the best-selling carmaker from Toyota towards the end of 2011.
"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," GM's Chairman and Chief Executive, Dan Akerson, said in a statement.
The company's revenue rose by three percent to $38 billion quarter-on-quarter. For the full year, profits soared to $7.6 billion, up a staggering 62 percent from 2010 levels.
European child of sorrow
But GM's European division was again hit by huge operating losses of $747 million in 2011. In 2009, General Motors considered selling the Opel and Vauxhall facilities in Germany and Britain, but changed its mind.
Opel alone sold 22,000 fewer cars quarter-on-quarter in the October through December period. It continues to suffer from a raging debt crisis across Europe, but has also failed to expand in the booming markets overseas.
The poor results are giving rise to fresh speculation that further cuts or even closures might be in the pipeline.
The European unit has only once turned a profit in the past 12 years - in 2006. Last year, GM shut a car factory in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
hg/gb (AFP, dpa, dapd)