GM posts $2B profit in the third quarter

Associated Press

DETROIT

Strong profits on new cars and trucks helped General Motors Co. earn $2 billion in the third quarter, enhancing the company’s appeal as it nears next week’s initial public stock offering.

The third-quarter earnings of $1.20 per share nearly match what GM made in the first two quarters of the year combined, aided by profits from overseas and healthy revenue from North America, the company said Wednesday. The earnings were boosted by higher prices from newly introduced models such as the Buick LaCrosse, a midsize luxury sedan.

“I think the results of the third quarter clearly point to the amount of progress that GM has made,” GM CEO Dan Akerson said in a conference call with analysts and media. He said GM is on track to make 2010 its first profitable year since 2004.

The results were another indication of a widespread recovery among global automakers. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Chrysler and Ford all reported improved results in the most-recent quarter as auto sales slowly rise.

The strong quarter meant that GM met projections it made a week ago that net income for the quarter would be $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion.

It was the third-straight profitable quarter for GM, which needed $50 billion in U.S. government aid to make it through bankruptcy protection last year. The company has repaid or plans to repay taxpayers $9.5 billion, and the government hopes to get back the remaining $40 billion with the Nov. 18 common-stock offering and several follow-up sales.

Also Wednesday, a person briefed on the matter said that Swiss bank UBS is no longer working on the IPO because one of its employees leaked information about it in an unauthorized e-mail. The person didn’t want to be identified because the bank had not been publicly identified as the source of the e-mail.

The latest results reversed a $908 million loss, or 73 cents per share, in the third quarter of last year, a short quarter for GM because it spent the first nine days in bankruptcy protection.

The Detroit automaker posted $34.1 billion in revenue for the July-through-September quarter, up 35 percent from the $25.1 billion in the shortened period last year. GM had said last week that revenue could reach $34 billion for the quarter.