General Motors beats the Street on earnings

General Motors saw profits increase in the first quarter of its trading year, driven in part by a revaluation of its shares in ridesharing outfit Lyft following its IPO.

America's biggest automaker turned a profit of $2.2bn for the quarter ending on 31 March, or $1.48 on a per share basis, which was well and truly up on the $1.05bn reported a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, GM earned $1.41 per share, which was also ahead of the $1.11 per share expected on the Street.

However, pre-tax earnings fell more than 11% to $2.3bn as US new-vehicles sales fell 7% in the quarter and Chinese sales dropped 20%.

To offset the declining sales figures, GM hiked the average sales prices for its pickup trucks by $5,800 year-on-year as buyer interest shifted towards its pricier sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks.

Nonetheless, GM told investors it remained "bullish" on pickup truck sales for the remainder of 2019 ahead of more variations of its new model Silverado and its heavy-duty truck hitting showrooms in the second half of the year.

As part of an effort to cut costs, GM shuttered factories producing slow-selling vehicles, cutting more than 14,000 jobs across the US and Canada in the process.

As of 1350 BST, GM shares had slipped 1.90% in pre-market trading to $39.25 each.