Buoyed by strong products and just a bit of accounting legerdemain, the Blue Oval has announced its balance sheet was firmly in the black in 2009, marking Ford’s first full year of profit since 2005.
True, it took some financial maneuvering to come with up a final profit figure of $2.7 billion—there were some billion-dollar bumps from debt refinancing and other special items—but even with all that stuff accounted for, the company saw a pre-tax operating income of $454 million in 2009. For comparison’s sake, this is a positive swing of more than $7 billion when compared to Ford’s 2008 pre-tax operating loss of $6.8 billion.
Further, Ford is sitting on a tidy pile of automotive cash—$25.5 billion worth—up an astonishing $12.1 billion over where it started the year.
Impressive sales numbers from core Ford products made the difference, led by the surging Ford Fusion. The company’s mid-size masterpiece saw sales jump an incredible 22 percent for 2009, which is especially significant when you consider the industry as a whole was down last year by about the same amount. The Ford Taurus also saw its sales start to take off, with its December ‘09 numbers more than doubling the December ‘08 sales figures of the previous-generation model. And it’s worth noting that the Ford Escape was up on the year by 10.5 percent despite being one of the older entries in the highly competitive crossover segments.
Looking ahead, the company says it will further increase its momentum in 2010, adding vehicles like the new Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta and expecting another full-year profit. Needless to say, we expect the same.
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