GM Confident of Turnaround After Posting Huge 2007 Losses

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- General Motors Corp (NYSE: GM) announced on Tuesday morning full-year 2007 losses of $38.7 billion, the company said in a statement.

GM claimed, however, its losses are “almost entirely attributable to the non-cash $38.3 billion special charge in the third quarter.”  In addition, it stated that its automotive business chalked up a $7 billion increase over 2006 and garnered record full-year revenues in 2007 of $178 billion.

The weak American dollar benefited GM overseas by fueling its explosive growth in foreign markets.

Specifically, the company harvested $181 billion in those markets in 2007.  This represents a decrease of the 2006 overseas revenue of $206 billion. Still, the company attributed the decrease “to the non-consolidation of GMAC revenue” in 2006 that followed sale of 51 percent of GMAC in November of that year.

“We implemented further significant structural cost reductions in North America, grew aggressively in emerging markets, negotiated an historic labor contract with our UAW partners in the U.S., advanced development of a broad range of advanced propulsion technologies and most importantly, introduced a series of breakthrough cars and trucks around the world,” said GM CEO/Chairman Rick Wagoner in the company’s statement.

“We’re pleased with the positive improvement trend in our automotive results, especially given the challenging conditions in important markets like the U.S. and Germany, but we have more work to do to achieve acceptable profitability and positive cash flow,” Wagoner added.

Despite the company’s announcement of huge 2007 losses, the GM share price was up from the previous close of $27.12 to $27.31 in afternoon trading on Tuesday (1:37pm ET).

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of GM’s Board of Directors as a method for assessing their knowledge of business and for determining the likelihood that the company is on the right course for future earnings growth.

The Knowledge Map shows that Director George MC Fisher is the former CEO/Chairman of Kodak and a current Director at Eli Lilly.  Director John H Bryan has ties to such corporate powerhouses as Goldman Sachs, BP and Sara Lee.

The following GM Directors also have notable ties: Director Armando M Codina also serves on the board of Merrill Lynch; Director Karen L Katen is the former CEO/Chairman of Pfizer; and Director Philip A Laskawy is the former CEO/Chairman of Ernst & Young.

In addition, a few of the board members also hold leadership positions at non-corporate entities. For example, GM CEO/Chairman Richard Wagoner heads the Society of Automotive Engineers, Duke University and Harvard Business School.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Click here or copy this link into your Internet Explorer browser for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=44f3e9d0-ada0-4d5e-a3d7-47b67ae429c5