2011 Ford Dividend Payouts Announced
Ford Motor Co. came out Thursday to announce that it would be bringing back dividend payouts to shareholders to the tune of five cents a share.
The dividend will be the first from the company since 2006, when it faced significant financial difficulties and was forced to take $26 billion in private loans.
The decision not to take government money has paid off, as the company's perception in public seems to be better than other companies that took bailout money such as rival auto makers General Motors and Chrysler.
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Ford underwent a dramatic transformation as the recession hit, unloading poor performing brands and reworking most of its cars.
Ford now has a line of competitive small cars, such as the Fiesta and Focus. It is also faring better than some foreign car makers. During a time when Toyota has suffered massive recalls on several models and Honda has not brought a competitive new model to the market.
"Compared to the past, we've substantially restructured the company," Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth told reporters during a conference call.
"Our breakeven is lower than it was and we would expect this to be a sustainable dividend," reported by Reuters.
Chief Executive Alan Mulally, has led a restructuring of Ford that included borrowing more than $25 billion from banks and implementing a plan which simplifies and streamlines product development and supplies.
Ford, the only U.S. automaker not to take a federal bailout in 2009, is now considered the strongest of the three Detroit automakers.
In October, Ford posted its 10th straight quarterly profit and signed a deal with the United Auto Workers that will keep labor cost close to their current rate.
"We've done some stress testing, clearly looking at different scenarios in Europe as part of that stress testing, and we feel comfortable on a worldwide basis that we can restart the dividend," according to Reuters.
