Ford Posts Biggest Profit Since 1998 but only Thanks to One-Time Gain, Gives $6,200 Bonus to Workers

Piggybacked by a one-time tax gain, Ford Motor Company has posted its highest annual profit since 1998 and the second biggest in the firm’s 109-year long history. The Blue Oval’s net income for 2011 was US$20.2 billion or US$4.94 per share, an increase of US$13.7 billion, or US$3.28 per share, from a year ago.

However, most of the profit came from a one-time, non-cash special item of US$12.4 billion from eliminating a valuation allowance against the company’s net deferred tax assets.

Ford said that full year pre-tax operating profit was US$8.8 billion, or $1.51 per share, an increase of US$463 million from 2010.

Revenue was US$136.3 billion for the full year, an increase of $15.4 billion from full year 2010, with Ford reporting total sales of 5.7 million cars and trucks worldwide, which represents an increase of 382,000 units over the previous year.

Ford finished the year with Automotive gross cash of $22.9 billion, compared with $20.8 billion as of Sept. 30, 2011, and $20.5 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010.

The Detroit company said that as a result of its 2011 financial performance, it will give a bonus to around 41,600 eligible U.S. hourly employees. Ford’s North American pre-tax profits of US$6.2 billion (up from US$5.4 billion in 2010) will generate approximately US$6,200 per eligible employee on a full year basis.

The automaker didn’t do as well in Europe where is posted a pre-tax operating loss of US$27 million, compared with a profit of US$182 million a year ago.

For 2012, Ford said that it expects full year industry volume to be in the range of 13.5 million to 14.5 million vehicles in the States, and 14 million to 15 million in Europe.

Ford is planning several important product launches this year including the global introduction of the new Fusion, Mondeo and Lincoln MKZ in the D-Segment, the Escape and Kuga crossovers in the C-Segment, while in the B-Segment it will roll out the B-MAX in Europe and the EcoSport crossover in global markets.

The U.S. carmaker added that it will also launch the Ranger pickup truck in more markets and triple the production capacity of EcoBoost-equipped Ford models.