UPDATE: GM Narrows Loss On 14% Higher Sales
 

04-20-06 10:32 AM EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - General Motors Corp. stanched some of the bleeding with its first-quarter report Thursday, reporting a narrower loss on a 14% jump in sales.

GM's loss shrank to $323 million, or 57 cents a share, from $1.3 billion, or $ 2.22, in the year-earlier quarter. The latest loss included a charge of $681 million, or $1.20 a share, for a healthcare settlement for its retired workers. GM said special items of $206 million, or 37 cents, included a gain on the sale of its stake in Suzuki.

It said its adjusted loss, including the health-care charge but excluding the special items, was $529 million, or 94 cents a share.

Analysts polled by Thomson First Call forecast a loss, on average, of 44 cents a share on sales of $39.4 billion.

Detroit-based GM (GM) said sales reached $52.2 billion.

Early Thursday, the shares, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJI) , jumped 4.4% to $21.49.

GM's core North America automotive business, which has been reeling from heated competition and mounting fixed costs, reported an adjusted loss of $946 million, including $484 million of the retiree health-care settlement. The loss narrowed from its adjusted loss of $1.5 billion a year ago.

General Motors has been trumpeting the strong start for its GMT900 lineup of SUVs and pickups. Sales of the Chevrolet Tahoe rose 20% from a year ago to 10, 126 vehicles in March, while Escalade sales surged 45%. Still, a 17% overall sales decline for the month brought GM's market share below 24%, less than half of where it stood about 45 years ago at its peak.

So far in April, GM's U.S. sales are tracking to come in down 7.5%, according to a Deutsche Bank survey of dealers, which cast doubt on the sustainability of its GMT900 crop in the face of nosebleed gasoline prices.

GM endured a busy first quarter, which included buyout packages offered to its hourly workforce, hundreds of white-collar-job cuts and the sale of a majority stake in its profitable GMAC unit. GM also announced the sale of its 7.9% stake in Isuzu.

And high atop the agenda, GM is working to hammer out a deal with the United Auto Workers union and Delphi (DPHIQ) to avoid what could be a devastating strike at its top supplier.