November 09, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 27, 1428

CHICAGO, Nov 8: Ford Motor Co. said on Thursday its losses narrowed in the third quarter to $380 million as the struggling auto giant cited progress in its turnaround effort. The results marked a sharp improvement from a massive $5.2bn loss in the same period a year ago.

While costs were down by $600 million for the quarter as Ford shuttered factories in the face of a steady loss of market share, revenue also rose in the latest three months to $41.1 billion from $37.1 billion a year ago.The number-two US automaker attributed the revenue rise to higher pricing, an improved product mix and changes in currency exchange rates.

“Our third-quarter performance is very encouraging,” said Ford president and chief executive Alan Mulally.

“We can see our plan taking hold with significant improvement continuing in our core automotive operations,” he said.

“We remain committed to executing the four priorities of our plan -- restructuring the business to operate profitably, accelerating the development of new products that our customers want and value, funding our plan and improving our balance sheet, and working even more effectively together as one Ford team, leveraging our global assets.”

The latest results translated to a loss of 19 cents a share, but excluding one-time items was a loss of just one cent, compared with analyst forecasts of a 47-cent per share deficit.—AFP