GM back in annual profit

General Motors has reported its first full-year profit since 2004 of 4.7 billion dollars (3.4 billion euros).

The top US carmaker’s fourth-quarter earnings were slightly above expectations at the equivalent of 370 million euros.

GM said fourth-quarter net income was fuelled by strong sales in China and the US as the global car market started to recover.

GM’s European operations posted a loss of $568 million (412 million euros) for the fourth quarter and a loss of $1.7 billion (1.23 billion euros) for the year. The automaker has said it hopes the European division – Opel and Vauxhall – will break even this year.

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