One-time gain boosts Ford results

Ford, the only one of the "Big Three" US carmakers not to have gone bankrupt, has reported a quarterly profit of $2.3bn (£1.4bn).

However, the profit was largely due to one-off gains related to debt restructuring, with demand for new cars remaining weak.

Excluding the gain, Ford said it made an operating loss of $424m.

Ford boss Alan Mulally said the business environment was "extremely challenging" worldwide.

Despite the economic downturn, Ford said it gained market share in all the regions in which it sells cars when compared with the second quarter of 2008.

"While the business environment remained extremely challenging around the world, we made significant progress on our transformation plan," said Mr Mulally, Ford's chief executive.

"Our underlying business is growing progressively stronger as we introduce great new products that customers want and value, while continuing to aggressively restructure our business and strengthen our balance sheet."

The profit figure includes a $3.4bn gain related to measures taken to restructure its debt obligations, Ford said.

Revenue declined $11bn to $27bn.