General Motors Company (GM) released today preliminary financial results for its first 83 days of operation, providing an initial look at its financial performance since it began operations as a new company on July 10, 2009.
“We have significantly more work to do, but today’s results provide evidence of the solid foundation we’re building for the new GM. With a healthier balance sheet and a competitive cost structure, our focus is on driving top line performance,” said GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson.
In light of improving global economic conditions, stabilizing industry sales and its healthier cash position, GM announced today that it plans to accelerate repayment of its outstanding $6.7 billion in UST loans as well as the C$1.5 billion (US$1.4 billion) in EDC loans ahead of the scheduled maturity date of July 2015.
GM plans to repay the United States, Canadian and Ontario government loans in quarterly installments from escrowed funds, beginning next month with an initial $1.2 billion payment to be made in December ($1.0 billion to the UST and $192 million to the EDC), followed by quarterly payments.
Revenue
GM posted revenue of $28.0 billion in the third quarter of 2009 ( July 1-Sept. 30, 2009), which was up approximately $4.9 billion compared to the revenue recognized by General Motors Corporation, or “Old GM,” in the second quarter of 2009.
Contributing to GM’s sales in the U.S. was the strong retail performance of some of its newest vehicles, including the Chevrolet Camaro and GMC Terrain, as well as the Chevrolet Equinox, Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac SRX which are generating higher average transaction prices and higher residual values than previous model year vehicles.
Managerial Results
After the inclusion of special items, GM’s managerial earnings before tax for the July 10-Sept. 30 period was a loss of $1.0 billion. GM recorded special items for the same period of $505 million, attributed primarily to dealer restructuring, attrition-related charges and Delphi. For the July 10-Sept. 30 period GM posted a managerial loss after-tax of $1.2 billion.
Total structural cost for the company has been significantly reduced by the resizing and delayering of the company including salaried and hourly headcount reductions, engineering savings and volume related savings. GM structural cost for the period July 10-Sept. 30, 2009 was $9.1 billion. Structural cost for Old GM for the period Jan. 1-July 9, 2009 was $22.0 billion. For the 9-month period ending September 30, 2008, Old GM had structural cost of $37.8 billion.
For the period July 10-Sept. 30, GM had positive managerial operating cash flow before special items of $3.3 billion, reflecting the favorable working capital impact from production start up, timing of supplier payments and lower capital spending. As of September 30, 2009, cash and marketable securities totaled $42.6 billion.