Ford Nets $1.2 Billion in Second Quarter

Ford Motor Co.'s net profit climbed 19% to $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2013, propelled by record earnings in Asia Pacific and North America.

Revenue rose 15% to $38.1 billion in the April-June period. Global sales jumped 16% to 1.68 million vehicles.

The company's pretax income surged 40% year over year to $2.6 billion as its business improved in all regions of the world.

Ford boosted its 2013 outlook after netting $4.7 billion in the first half. The company now expects full-year profit to surpass instead of match the $8 billion it recorded in 2012.

Ford also cut its projected loss in Europe this year to $1.8 billion from its earlier prediction of a $2 billion deficit. That unit narrowed its pretax loss to $348 million in the second quarter from $404 million in the same period last year. Revenue advanced 7% to $7.6 million on 9% growth in volume to 391,000 vehicles.

Overall, the company's automotive operations posted pretax income of $2.1 billion in the April-June period compared with $1.4 billion a year earlier.

Those gains were driven mainly by North American operations, whose pretax earnings in the second quarter climbed 16% to a record $2.3 billion on soaring demand for pickup trucks. Revenue and unit sales each grew 14% to $22.4 billion and 823,000 units, respectively.

Ford's operating margin in the region widened to 10.4% from 10.2% a year earlier. U.S. market share expanded 0.8 points in the first half of 2013 to 16.5%.

In Asia Pacific, the company swung to a record $177 million pretax profit in the latest quarter from a $66 million loss a year earlier, thanks largely to growth in China. Ford's revenue in the region increased 30% to $3 billion. Sales rose 27% to 317,000 units, boosting the company's Asia-Pacific market share 1 point to 3.6%.

South American operations posted pretax income of $151 million from April through June compared with $5 million in the same period of 2012. Revenue advanced 30% to $3 billion. Sales jumped 24% to 147,000 vehicles.

Ford Motor Credit Co.'s quarterly pretax earnings rose to $454 million from $438 million a year earlier.

Ford generated operating cash flow of $3.3 billion in the three-month period the largest amount for any quarter in the past 11 years. The company held $25.7 billion in automotive cash on June 30.