General Motors swings to a net loss of £584.46 million in the second quarter

General Motors (NYSE: GM) revealed to have swung to a net loss of £584.46 million in the second quarter on Wednesday as compared to £1.87 billion of profit in the same quarter last year. The company attributed the loss to the Coronavirus pandemic that pushed its production facilities into temporarily shutting down in recent months. Earlier in July, General Motors had announced a 5.3% decline in vehicle sales between April and June.

Shares of the company opened 2.5% up on Wednesday but lost the entire gain in the next hour. At £20.48 per share, General Motors is currently more than 25% down year to date in the stock market after recovering from an even lower £12.95 per share in March. Learn more about the financial analysis of a company.

General Motors’ revenue tanks 53% in the second quarter

On an adjusted basis, GM’s loss per share came in at 38.55 pence in the second quarter that topped analysts’ forecast of a much broader £1.36 per share. Adjusted for non-recurring items, it recorded its pre-tax profit at £413.29 million versus the year-ago figure of £2.31 billion.

In separate news, the British luxury carmaker, Aston Martin, also reported £227 million of loss in the first half (H1) of the ongoing financial year on Wednesday.

In North America, General Motors saw £77.88 million of loss that was significantly lower than the FactSet consensus of £1.31 billion. In terms of revenue, the U.S. car manufacturer noted a 53% year over year decline to £12.94 billion. Its U.S. vehicle sales registered a 34% decline on Wednesday.

GM concludes the quarter with £23.59 billion of cash and liquidity

GM boasted to have concluded the recent quarter with £23.59 billion of cash and liquidity. The company, much like its competitors, burned through billions in recent months due to COVID-19 restrictions. It, however, resorted to a £15.42 billion of liquidity boost via drawing down its revolving credit facility. GM also issued unsecured debt in recent months and suspended its dividend to further shore up finances amidst the health crisis.

General Motors also accentuated on Wednesday that its losses could have been much sharper if its pricey pickup trucks hadn’t seen higher demand in the recent quarter. GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado, the two top-selling pickup trucks saw a price increase of about £1,150 on average in Q2.

At the time of writing, the Detroit-based car manufacturer has a market cap of £29.45 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 8.16.