
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993                   TAG: 9307300143
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Medium

IT'S A SWEEP: BIG THREE BACK IN BLACK

General Motors Corp. earned $889 million in the second quarter thanks largely to aggressive cost-cutting and profits from non-automotive businesses.

GM's troubled North American automotive business continued to show a loss in earnings reported Thursday, but the shortfall narrowed dramatically from a year earlier.

Earnings of 92 cents a share were the best for the world's largest automaker since the second quarter of 1990, when GM earned $900.1 million.

Second-quarter sales rose 3.9 percent to $36.7 billion from $35.3 billion a year ago. In last year's second quarter, GM recorded a loss per share of $1.18, including a one-time restructuring charge of $749.4 million, or 97 cents per share, for its Hughes Aircraft business.

"We saw plenty of signs that the progress of cost-cutting was continuing to have a substantial effect in the second quarter," Bear Stearns & Co. analyst Doug Laughlin said.

The cost cuts are part of the automaker's restructuring of North American automotive operations, which includes the planned elimination of 74,000 jobs and closing of 23 plants by 1995.

GM's performance brought total Big Three earnings to $2.3 billion for the April-June period, when all of the automakers enjoyed strong sales. Ford Motor Co. earned $775 million and Chrysler Corp. earned $685 million.

The critical North American auto business reported a loss of $95.4 million, down sharply from a loss of $761.4 million in last year's second quarter.

GM also reported a deficit of $79 million to cover continuing costs from earlier acquisitions and losses in its power products and defense businesses. That left GM with net income of $889 million.

GM's international automotive business earned $368 million in the second quarter, up 29.5 percent from $284 million in last year's period. European operations, despite recessions in several large countries, continued to be profitable and were expected to stay in the black for the year.

by CNB