With successful businesses in North America (Q1 $2.1 billion profit) and Ford Credit ($452 million), Ford has now made money on a pre-tax operating basis for 11 consecutive quarters.
The Board of Directors of the Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) today declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.05 per share on the company’s Class B shares controlled by the Ford family, as well as for the far more numerous holders of common stock. This repeats the dividend paid in the first and second quarters of 2012 and is a sign of the improved finances of the automaker.
The move comes as Ford shares are trading just above $9 a share, down from a 52 week high of $13.44. On an annualized basis, this represents a return of about 2%, which makes Ford look like a relative bargain in a market awash in Federal Reserve printed dollars and, as a result, record low interest rates for speculators and borrowers, but also extremely damaging for savers.
Ford Motor Company reported a 2012 Q1 profit of $2.3 billion, or 39 cents per share, and net income of $1.4 billion, or 35 cents per share – virtually all of it from North America. Sales, revenues, pre-tax profits and operating margin all declined year-over-year.
With successful businesses in North America ($2.1 billion profit) and Ford Credit ($452 million profit), Ford has now made money on a pre-tax operating basis for 11 consecutive quarters. The North American operating margin was 11.5% compared to overall results of a 6.4% margin.
During the first six months of 2012, Ford Motor lagged U.S. auto industry growth, posting sales of 207,000 (+7% Ford, market up 22%) in June and 7% ytd as the market grew 15%. Nevertheless, this was strong enough though to keep Ford in the Number Two sales spot ahead of Toyota Motor Sales. Ford posted
The money and reputation maker at Ford continues to come from the U.S.’s top-selling vehicle for 30 years, the F-Series, which sold 55,025 pickup trucks in June. F-Series remains America’s number one selling vehicle in the first half of 2012 at 301,000, +14%.
The problem facing Ford – and General Motors and Fiat-owned Chrysler – remains the Eurozone crisis, which has both personal and commercial vehicle sales plummeting. In the case of cars, the EU is headed for its fifth straight year of sales declines, with no end in sight.
The Ford third-quarter dividend is payable on 4 September 2012, to shareholders of record on Aug. 3, 2012.
At the Ford annual meeting of shareholders in May, 29.5% of Ford investors voted against Ford family control of the company through their holdings of Class B stock. The Ford family gets 16 votes per share of B. Common stockholders get one vote per share. The disparity allows the Ford family to retain control of the publicly held automaker.
