Ford posts first full-year net profit since 2005

Ford Motor Co posted 2009 earnings of $2.7 billion on Thursday, its first full-year profit since 2005, and said it expected a 2010 profit amid market share gains and a slow U.S. auto sales recovery.

The company attributed the full-year profit in part to cost cuts, gains from debt reduction efforts, strong results from its Ford Motor Credit Co financing arm and stronger pricing.

For the fourth quarter, Ford posted a profit of $868 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $6 billion, or a $2.51 per share. Revenue rose to $35.4 billion from $29 billion.

Operating profit excluding one-time items was 43 cents per share. On that basis analysts on average expected earnings of 26 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Ford, the only large U.S. automaker not to reorganize under a government-supported bankruptcy in 2009, gained U.S. market share last year amid the troubles of its U.S.-based rivals Chrysler, which is now under management control of Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), and General Motors Co (GM.UL).