GM reports first full-year profit since 2004

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DETROIT, Feb 25 (Reuters): General Motors Co posted fourth-quarter earnings slightly above expectations and its first full-year profit since 2004. Profit for all of 2010 was $4.7 billion, achieved after the company slashed costs and debt in a 2009 bankruptcy financed by the Obama administration. The top US automaker reported fourth-quarter net income of $510 million, or 31 cents per share, down from the pace of earnings in the first three quarters of 2010. Revenue in the quarter was $36.9 billion. After adjusting for a loss of 21 cents per share on the purchase of preferred shares that had been held by the US Treasury, adjusted earnings per share were 52 cents. GM's chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, said 52 cents was in line with analysts' expectations but earnings before interest and taxes were slightly below estimates. "We had a big engineering spend, so that might be part of it," Liddell told reporters. Analysts forecast adjusted profit of 46 cents per share on revenue of nearly $33 billion. GM's European operations posted a loss of $568 million for the fourth quarter and a loss of $1.7 billion for the year.