Ford Warns Quake Could Hurt Profit

Ford said the problem isn’t their facilities but that of their suppliers:

Supply disruptions stemming from the earthquake in Japan could hurt Ford Motor Co’s earnings, the automaker said in a securities filing with U.S. regulators on Monday.

The U.S. automaker, which has no auto plants in Japan but uses suppliers based there, said it was looking for alternate sources of auto parts as necessary.

The filing was another indication to investors from a U.S. automaker that missed shipments of parts from Japan could have far-reaching effects on financial performance.

“Because the situation in Japan continues to develop, supply interruptions related to other materials and components from Japan could manifest themselves in the weeks ahead,” the company said in the filing.

Ford said its operations in Asia, including joint ventures, could be affected by parts shortages from late April through May. The company said it did not expect the disruptions to have a “material impact” on results, but said if a replacement could not be found for a particular auto part, it could cut or cease vehicle production.

A loss of output could hurt Ford’s financial condition as well as that of its financing arm, Ford Motor Credit, the company said in a filing.

Here’s the SEC filing.

Posted by on April 12th, 2011 at 11:30 am


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