Gm Boosts Earnings By 76 Percent

General Motors Corp., boosted by its biggest profits in North America in 13 years, reported a somewhat surprising 76 percent increase in first-quarter earnings Monday.

Though GM’s worldwide sales were down slightly in the January-March period, the world’s largest automaker benefited from reduced material costs and improved productivity from retooled U.S. assembly plants.

“This was just a good, solid quarter,” analyst Joe Phillippi of Lehman Brothers said. “It looks like they’re on track to have a pretty good year.”

GM said it earned nearly $1.8 billion, or $2.30 a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 94 cents a share, in the same period of 1996. Revenues totaled $42.3 billion, up 8 percent from $39.2 billion.