General Motors net profit falls nearly 70% in Q1 after another loss in Europe

General Motors saw its net profit fall nearly 70 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, as another loss in Europe put a dent in the US automaker’s bottom line.

Net profit for the first three months of the year stood at $1 billion, down from $3.2 billion a year earlier, but it still managed to beat analysts’ expectations, Detroit Free Press reported.

According to Forbes, GM made 93 cents a share excluding a goodwill writedown. Analysts had forecast 85 cents a share on that basis.

GM posted a $256 million loss in debt crisis-hit Europe, which was better than $562 million loss recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

But chief financial officer Daniel Ammann said it was “too hard to say” whether the worst for Europe was over, according to the New York Times.

“It’s really a function of the overall economic environment there,” Ammann told reporters at GM’s headquarters in Detroit.

“We’ve been taking action on the cost side of the business, but there’s still a long way to go.”

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GM fared much better in its home market. US earnings before interest and taxes rose to $1.7 billion in the first quarter, up from $1.3 billion a year earlier, according to CNNMoney.

According to the Wall Street Journal, GM’s domestic sales rose 2.7 percent in the first quarter but its market share dropped nearly 2 percentage points as its rivals posted bigger sales gains.

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