Posted on: Wednesday, April 20, 2005

GM suffers worst loss in decade

By John Porretto
Associated Press

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. reported its deepest quarterly loss in more than a decade — $1.1 billion — as rising healthcare costs and lackluster response to some new models hammered its North American business. With health costs not getting any cheaper and Asian automakers grabbing more of the market, the outlook for the world's largest automaker remains bleak.

The January-March loss amounted to $1.95 per share, compared with earnings of $1.3 billion, or $2.25 a share, in the year-ago quarter, when the company benefited from its finance arm and improved sales in Asia.

Revenue fell 4.3 percent to $45.8 billion from $47.8 billion a year ago.

"We expected a difficult quarter," GM chief financial officer John Devine said in a conference call with investors and automotive journalists. "Obviously, that's what we saw."