GM Financial, the captive finance arm of General Motors (GM), recorded fourth-quarter earnings before tax of $0.1bn (£65m) in 2012, compared to $0.2bn in Q4 2011 and $0.2bn in Q3 2012.

Earnings before tax for the full year stood at $0.7bn, up from $0.6bn in 2011.

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Although appearing to represent a small proportion of its manufacturer parent’s balance sheet, when compared to other captive finance providers such as RCI Banque or Ford Credit, GM Financial was only created in 2010. Many of GM Financial’s global operations are due to begin later this year when it re-acquires units of GM’s old captive finance business GMAC, which was known as Ally Financial after divestiture from GM.

Overall revenue for GM was up for the quarter, by 3.42% year-on-year, to $39.3bn, and up 1.33% over 2012 to $152.3bn. Overall earnings before tax for the quarter rose 9.10% to $1.2bn, but fell 4.82% against the 2011 figure to $7.9bn.

‘Aggressive and rigorous’

Automotive net cash flow also gave a mixed picture: down 58.33% for the quarter to $0.5bn but up 29.73% for the year to $9.6bn. Automotive free cash flow was up at the end of 2012, by 43.33% to $4.3bn with total automotive liquidity up 0.54% on the end of 2011 to $37.2bn.

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Dan Akerson, chairman and chief executive of GM, said the brand would focus on "executing flawless vehicle launches" in 2013.

Dan Ammann, senior vice president and chief financial officer of GM, added the "aggressive" launches would be accompanied by a company focus on "improving the topline" and "rigorous cost discipline".

Further data and comment regarding manufacturer full-year results will be published in the March issue of Motor Finance magazine.

richard.brown@timetric.com