Ford loss narrows; to offer buyouts

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a sharply narrower fourth-quarter loss on Thursday after cutting costs and boosting margins on vehicles and said it expects another net loss for the full year 2008.

The nation's No. 3 automaker, which has struggled with declining sales and sliding market share in the United States, said it would take further cost-cutting actions on its home turf, including offering buyouts to all of its unionized work force.

Ford reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.75 billion, or $1.30 per share, compared with a loss of $5.63 billion, or $2.98 per share, a year earlier.

The loss from continuing operations, excluding one-time items, was 20 cents a share. On that basis, analysts expected a loss of 19 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $44.1 billion, up from $40.3 billion a year earlier.

"Although our automotive operations are improving on a year-over-year basis, the U.S. economy is slowing and the outlook for the auto industry remains challenging," Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.

The U.S. auto market, the world's largest, has been hurt by a slowing economy, a slumping housing market and tighter credit markets that pinched less credit-worthy borrowers.

U.S. auto sales fell for the second consecutive year in 2007 and the consensus view among Wall Street analysts and high-profile investors points to a further decline this year.

Ford's global automotive unit reported a pre-tax loss of $889 million for the fourth quarter. Its North American auto operations posted a pre-tax loss of $1.6 billion.