Ford Motor pays 52,700 workers $9,300 each in profit sharing for good sales year

[Hamartia Antidote]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...tor-company-fourth-quarter-earnings/79450050/

• Ford reported a strong fourth-quarter and full-year profit, enough to trigger record $9,300 profit-sharing checks for about 52,700 hourly workers.

• 
  The automaker on Thursday reported net income of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter and $7.4 billion for the year. Revenue was $40.3 billion for the quarter and $149.6 billion for the year.
  
  Pre-tax profit in the final three months was $2.6 billion, contributing to $10.8 billion for the year. The company made money in every region except South America, with new records in North America and Asia Pacific. Europe is back in the black for the first time since 2011.
  
  "We promised a breakthrough year in 2015 and we delivered," Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.
  
  The results were not surprising as Fields announced earlier this month that an accounting change that reduces pensions costs would result in higher earnings than expected, which would trigger larger profit-sharing checks.
  
  The key figure for autoworkers is the $9.3 billion pre-tax profit earned in North America because the profit-sharing formula, negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, awards $1 for each $1 million in North American profit. That makes it $9,300 for eligible employees, before taxes, compared with checks up to $6,900 earned in 2014. The previous record amount was $8,800 based on 2013 results.
  
  Upon ratification of the new UAW contract in the fall, Ford gave workers a $1,500 pre-payment. They will get the remaining $7,800 in mid-March. Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said Ford put $600 million in charges on the books in the quarter to cover the extra costs associated with the new contract.
  
  The Ford UAW payout is more than double the $4,000 in profit sharing that workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will receive Feb. 19.
  
  The financial results beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter as well as the full year.
  
  But even though Ford is fresh off its best sales year since 2000 and is working to reinvent itself as a technology company as well as an automaker, its stock has fallen about 20% over the last year and is down roughly that amount so far in 2016.
  
  Earlier this month Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas told a Detroit audience that he advises investors to sell Ford shares and said there is little love for the automaker on Wall Street because there is not a positive future for traditional car companies in today's world, where ride-sharing and autonomous driving will play key roles.
  
  Ford shares rose 1.2% to $12 in pre-market trading after declining by about the same amount the previous day.
  
  Shanks said he thinks the market is concerned about the growth of the economy as a whole but the auto industry is somewhat immune because it has plateaued at such a high level and he does not see sales or profit margins falling off through 2018.
  
  "I don't see that we're at the peak and ready to fall over," he told reporters, given low oil prices and interest rates and strong housing starts expected to continue to spur strong pickup truck sales.
  
  And when the inevitable downturn does come, "we have a strong robust structure" in place. "We'll be ready."
  
  Shanks is also buoyed by the fact that an increasing amount of the profits is coming from outside North America.
  
  Earlier this year Ford said it would pay shareholders a first-quarter dividend of 15 cents per share and provide an additional 25 cents per share to stakeholders of record on Jan. 29 as part of a $1-billion supplemental cash dividend.
  
  The record pre-tax profit came with strong stales of profitable pickups and utility vehicles in a year marked by a stronger economy and low gas prices. Ford expects 2016 to be as strong or better.
  
  North America is still the profit driver and did not let up in the fourth quarter with earnings of $2 billion contributing to the year's $9.3 billion total -- up 26% from last year -- and a profit margin of 8.2% for the quarter and 10.2% for the year. Shanks said Ford has had margins over 10% for three of the last four years, making it a benchmark in the industry.
  
  The company made money in Europe for the first time in four years, reporting profits of $131 million for the fourth quarter and $259 million for the full year.
  
  Asia Pacific earned $444 million in the final quarter and a record $765 million for the full year.
  
  Middle East and Africa earned $13 million in the quarter and $31 million for the year.
  
  South America remains a trouble spot. Ford lost $295 million for the quarter and $832 million for the full year. Brazil almost singlehandedly accounts for the loss as the country could be entering its worst depression since the early 1800s, Shanks said.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hey @jamahir not all capitalists are bad

 

[jamahir]

Hey @jamahir not all capitalists are bad

i agree, not all.

two other examples are the cadburys ( at one time ) and azim premji, the chairman of wipro industries in india... even jeff bezos is doing his bit for human advancement... elon musk cannot be technically called a confirmed capitalist, despite the tesla car company.

but also must be said two things about this ford company news : (a). there is no guarantee of benefits or even retained employment for non-management employees for the year that doesn't bring financial profits to the company, (b). there is the simple imbalance in salaries between management and the workers.

i am not being deliberately mean there but just giving the simple facts.

but if money system won't exist and employment is made not a constant profession but social contribution within a advancement setup like neighborhood-level vertical farms and 3d printing workshops, there won't be all this on/off thing about bonuses and layoffs, yes??