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GM Profit Nearly Doubles

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Strong North American sales lead 3rd-quarter figures

In this Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 file photo, the logo for General Motors decorates the entrance at the site of a GM information technology center in Roswell, Ga. GM is recalling 2.6 million small cars worldwide to replace ignition switches that suddenly can slip out of the run position and shut off the engine.  (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

In this Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 file photo, the logo for General Motors decorates the entrance at the site of a GM information technology center in Roswell, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

 

TOM KRISHER, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) – Big profits from rising SUV and truck sales in North America helped General Motors nearly double its third-quarter net profit and more than offset its struggles in Europe and South America.

The automaker posted net income of $1.38 billion, or 81 cents a share. In the year-ago quarter, GM made $698 million, or 45 cents a share.

The July-September quarter was the first this year without significant charges for recalls. GM, which has an Allen County truck assembly plant, has issued 75 recalls in 2014 covering more than 30 million vehi­cles, costing the company more than $2.8 billion.

Without $331 million in one-time items, GM would have made 97 cents a share, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet expected 95 cents.

Revenue grew 2 percent to $39.25 billion, above expectations of $38.79 billion. GM shares rose more than 2 percent in premarket trading.

In North America, revamped pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles helped to push GM’s pretax profit up 12.1 percent to just over $2.4 billion. The company’s profit margin – the amount of revenue it gets to keep – hit 9.5 percent, making it the fifth consecutive quarter of growth.

In China, pretax profit rose 14 percent to $484 million.

GM’s North American wholesale vehicle sales rose about 60,000 over last year, and half the increase came from pickup trucks and SUVs with high sales prices, said Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens.

“The new trucks and SUVs are more profitable than the ones they replaced. That certainly helps from a profit perspective,” he said.

GM sold 884,000 vehicles in North America during the quarter, an increase of 9.4 percent.

But the company’s loss in Europe, including Russia, grew 63 percent to $387 million. GM also lost $32 million in South America. But Stevens said both regions improved from previous quarters as cost cuts took hold. The company expects to record a pretax profit in Europe during 2016.

Stevens said GM spent about $700 million on recall repairs dur­ing the third quarter, although the expenses were booked during the first half of the year.

The biggest recall expense stems from the callback of 2.6 million small cars to fix faulty ignition switches that have been linked to at least 29 deaths. GM has hired compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg to pay victims and their families and expects to pay $400 million to $600 million in claims.

GM said the quarter included $200 million in restructuring costs, mainly for the closure of an assembly plant in Germany.

 

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