Bob Shanks, chief
financial officer, also said the company will hike the prices of its cars
within the year to help “claw back” the money it will lose from foreign
exchange movements following the EU vote.
He added the vote to
quit the EU is likely to cost Ford up to $500m a year until Britain’s
withdrawal from the trading bloc is complete, adding that uncertainty about how
this will be achieved makes it impossible to predict the effects after that
point.
A spokesman for Ford
– which produces the Fiesta, Britain’s best-selling car for the past seven
years – confirmed that the company is investigating how to cut costs and
“nothing is on or off the table". He added: "We will continue to look
at the business and align production with demand and consider any move to
maintain profitability."
Ford has two plants
left in the UK – at Dagenham on the outskirts of London and Bridgend in south
Wales – both of which produce engines that are shipped to the company’s car
assembly centres across Europe.
Earlier this week,
Britain’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned of the potential
harm that Brexit could cause to the UK’s £71.6bn-a-year car industry. It said
that some global manufacturers may relocate to Europe in order to avoid the
introduction of trade tariffs.
The warning about
Ford’s future in Britain came as the company updated on second quarter results,
reporting global revenue up $2.2bn at $39.5bn, though pre-tax profit was $293m
lower at $3bn.
The company’s
performance in Europe – which has lagged behind the rest of Ford’s global
markets – enjoyed an upturn with revenue up $1.1bn to $8.1bn, and pre-tax
profit tripling to $467m.
Global profits were
weaker than analysts had been expecting and Mr Shanks also warned the recovery
in the car market was “maturing”, signalling the years of growth since the
financial crisis were over, sending the shares tumbling. More than $5bn was
wiped of Ford’s market value as the shares fell almost 10pc in mid-morning
trading.
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