Ford loses $5.9 billion in fourth quarter, says still won't seek aid

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it lost $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter and burned through $5.5 billion in cash as sales slumped, but the company still says it does not plan to seek federal loans.

The second-largest U.S. automaker said it lost $2.46 per share, compared with a loss of $2.8 billion, or $1.13 per share, for the year-ago period.

Revenue in the three months ended Dec. 31 fell to $29.2 billion, down 36 percent from $45.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The results missed Wall Street's expectations. Excluding special items, the company reported a $1.37 per share loss for the quarter. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a fourth-quarter loss of $1.30 per share on revenue of $27.1 billion.

Ford shares were unchanged at $2.03 in premarket trading.

Dearborn-based Ford also announced that its credit arm would cut 20 percent of its work force, or 1,200 jobs, and it has reached agreement with the United Auto Workers union to end the "jobs bank" in which laid-off workers get most of their pay, although the effective date is still being negotiated.

The company said special items accounted for $1.4 billion of its net loss, largely due to personnel reductions and investment losses on money set aside for a union-administered trust that will take over retiree health care costs in 2010. Ford has about $2 billion in investments in that account, which can be used to fund operations, if needed.

The Treasury Department made loans to Ford's U.S-based competitors last month, allocating $13.4 billion to General Motors Corp. and $4 billion for Chrysler LLC.

Company spokesman Mark Truby said Ford's position on seeking federal loans is unchanged. It asked for a $9 billion line of credit from the government but has said it has enough cash to make it through 2009 and doesn't intend to use government loans unless economic conditions worsen.

"We don't plan to or foresee using it," Truby said Thursday.

Ford said it had $13.4 billion cash on hand as of Dec. 31 and plans to exercise a $10.1 billion secured credit line Tuesday. Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said the company is tapping the credit line only to make sure it's available and not to fund its operations.

Ford's cash burn rate slowed for the fourth quarter from $7.7 billion in the third quarter.