GM says it is close to making a profit

DETROIT, April 7 (UPI) -- U.S. auto giant General Motors Co. said Wednesday it lost $4.3 billion July to January, but it would be profitable by the end of 2010.

In a financial report covering the six months after the company emerged from bankruptcy in July, GM said much of the loss was due to a one-time charge -- a payment to the United Auto Workers healthcare program -- and that it had revenues of $57.5 billion.

Without the one-time charges on its books, the company would have lost $600 million in the fourth quarter, The New York Times reported.

Chief Financial Officer Christopher Liddell said, "We don't need to make that much improvement to get to profitability. It's getting close to break-even if you get rid of those one-off items that happened in the fourth quarter."

At the end of 2009, GM had reduced its debt by $30.1 billion, compared to the end of 2008. Its holdings of cash and securities that could be quickly sold came to $36.2 billion, compared to $14.2 billion at the end of 2008.

"There is nothing that I have seen in the first quarter that changes my position that we will be profitable this year," Liddell told The Los Angeles Times.