Ford’s Fourth-Quarter Profit Jumps 82 Percent

Ford Motor Co., the last of the U.S. automakers to report year-end results, said Wednesday that its profits increased 82 percent in the October-December period and 7 percent for the year.

Ford earned $4.4 billion, or $3.72 a share, for the year, compared with $4.1 billion, or $3.58 a share, in 1995. Revenues were $147 billion, up from $137.1 billion in the prior year.

For the quarter, Ford earned $1.2 billion, or $1 a share. That compared with $660 million, or 49 cents a share, in the last three months of 1995 when Ford was saddled with unusually high costs for new-model launches. Revenues totaled $38.8 billion, up from $34.5 billion a year earlier.

Ford’s results only slightly exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.

“It showed the kind of recovery you would anticipate with fewer startup and launch costs than a year ago and a better model mix,” said analyst Ronald Glantz of Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.

Ford’s profit from automotive operations for the year was $1.6 billion, down 20 percent from $2 billion in 1995. The results included a one-time charge of $436 million for early retirement programs.

In other earnings reports Wednesday: Philip Morris Companies Inc. said its profit climbed 15.6 percent in the fourth quarter, propelled by an industry-leading tobacco business.

The conglomerate, which also owns the growing Kraft food business and the struggling Miller Brewing operation, also said its earnings rose 15.7 percent for all of last year compared with 1995.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Philip Morris earned $1.47 billion, or $1.81 a share, up from $1.27 billion, or $1.53 a share, a year earlier.

For the year, Philip Morris earned $6.3 billion, or $7.68 a share, up from $5.45 billion, or $6.48 a share, a year ago.

Dupont Co.’s earnings rose 37 percent in the fourth quarter on higher petroleum and chemical sales, the chemical giant said.

Earnings in the three months ended Dec. 31 were $858 million, or $1.52 a share, compared with $627 million, or $1.13 a share, a year ago.

Increased petroleum sales, stemming from higher crude oil and natural gas prices, contributed to bigger fourth-quarter revenues, with upstream petroleum sales rising 46 percent to $706 million in the quarter.

For the year, earnings were $3.6 billion, or $6.47 a share, compared with $3.3 billion, or $5.61 a share, in 1995.