GM posts $15.5B 2Q loss, 3rd-worst in its history

The automaker burned through $3.6 billion in cash in the second quarter.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. posted a $15.5 billion second-quarter loss Friday, the third-worst quarterly performance in the company’s nearly 100-year history.

The loss came as North American sales plummeted and GM faced expenses due to labor unrest and a massive restructuring plan aimed at preserving cash to weather a prolonged U.S. economic downturn.

The loss of $27.33 per share was in stark contrast to the year-ago period when GM recorded a net profit of $891 million, or $1.56 per share.

Revenue for the April-June period was $38.2 billion, down $8.5 billion from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, GM might offer another round of buyout and early retirement offers to its U.S. hourly workers because of production cuts, the company’s chief financial officer said Friday.

Nearly 19,000 manufacturing workers — or about 25 percent of GM’s U.S. hourly work force — signed up for the latest round of buyout offers, which ended July 1. Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said 90 percent of those workers have left the company.

The company said its second-quarter loss included $9.1 billion in one-time charges, including $3.3 billion for the buyouts of 19,000 U.S. hourly workers, most of whom left at the end of June, as well as $2.8 billion in liabilities related to Delphi Corp., its former parts division.

It also included $1.3 billion worth of write-offs due to a reduction in the value of GM’s 49 percent interest in its former financial arm, GMAC Financial Services.

Additionally, GM took a $2 billion charge to its bottom line because of huge drops in the value of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles coming back to the company after lease terms end. GMAC and GM have suffered big losses when they try to sell the now-unpopular vehicles at depressed prices.

GM also took a $197 million charge related to the settlement of a nearly three-month strike at supplier American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc., which hurt production at more than 30 GM plants. GM agreed to help American Axle fund worker buyouts as part of the settlement.

Without the one-time charges, GM lost $6.3 billion, or $11.21 per share. Twelve analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predicted a $2.62-per-share loss on revenue of $44.57 billion.

Ray Young, GM’s chief financial officer, said the company burned through $3.6 billion in cash during the second quarter, which he attributed largely to reducing the company’s inventory by nearly 90,000 vehicles to less than 800,000.

He said GM does not expect a similar reduction in future quarters, so the cash burn should be smaller for the rest of the year.

“In that respect, the negative cash flow in the second quarter is overstated,” he said.

So far this year, GM has gone through about $1 billion in cash per month, including $3.4 billion in the first quarter.

Young said GM had $21 billion in cash and $5 billion available through credit lines at the end of June for total liquidity of $26 billion, which he called a strong position. GM already has announced plans to generate another $15 billion in liquidity in the next 18 months.

“We’re going to get the second quarter behind us and just move ahead,” Young said.

GM’s net losses since 2005 total $51.1 billion.