General Motors announces 30 cent dividend and predicts improved profit

General Motors Co, which announced a 30 cent a share dividend yesterday, forecast 2014 profit to modestly improve this year, as it introduces 15 new or refreshed vehicles in the US and 17 in China.

Improved operating performance should offset $1.1 billion in additional restructuring costs leaving GM’s margins for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes similar to 2013, the Detroit- based automaker said yesterday in statements posted on its website. GM forecast 2% industry-wide global sales growth to more than 85 million vehicles.

The outlook follows yesterday’s announcement that GM will issue its first quarterly payment since July 2008, and appointed Chuck Stevens as its new chief financial officer. Mary Barra, who had been the company’s product chief, yesterday became the first female chief executive officer of a global automaker, succeeding Dan Akerson who is retiring to care for his sick wife.

“We continue to perform well in the two most important markets in the world, the US and China,” Barra said in yesterday’s statement. “We’re taking advantage of our strength in these countries to restructure and make the investments necessary to grow profitably in other parts of the world.”

GM, which will probably report its 16th straight quarterly profit next month, is benefiting from 18 new or refreshed vehicles introduced last year in the US as the company rebounds from its 2009 US government-backed bankruptcy reorganisation. Shares rose after the announcements yesterday.

“Our fortress balance sheet, substantial liquidity, consistent earnings and strong cash flow provide the foundation for an ongoing payout,” Dan Ammann, the current chief financial officer who became president yesterday, said in the statement.

The dividend is payable March 28 to all common stockholders of record as of March 18, the company said in a statement.

Bloomberg