DEARBORN, Mich. — Like its parent, Ford Credit posted a sizable net income gain in 2010.

Company officials indicated net income last year came in at $2 billion, an improvement of $0.7 billion from Ford Credit's earnings of $1.3 billion a year earlier.

On a pre-tax basis, Ford Credit earned $3.1 billion in 2010, compared with $2 billion in the previous year. 

"The full-year increase in pre-tax earnings is primarily explained by a lower provision for credit losses and lower depreciation expense for leased vehicles related to higher auction values, offset partially by lower volume and the non-recurrence of net gains related to unhedged currency exposure primarily from cross-border intercompany lending," company officials explained.

Looking at these figures for just the fourth quarter, Ford Credit determined net income settled at $367 million, a decrease of $85 million from a year earlier. On a pre-tax basis, Ford Credit generated $572 million in the fourth quarter, off from the $714 million compiled during the year-ago quarter. 

"The decrease in pre-tax earnings primarily reflected lower volume and the non-recurrence of lower lease depreciation expense related to lower gains as fewer leases terminated and the vehicles were sold," officials said.

As of Dec. 31, Ford Credit's on-balance sheet net receivables totaled $81 billion, compared with $93 billion at the end of 2009. The company discovered managed receivables were $83 billion on Dec. 31, down from $95 billion seen at year's end in 2009.

"The lower receivables primarily reflected the discontinuation of Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Volvo financing and lower industry volumes in recent years," Ford Credit pointed out.

Also as of Dec. 31, Ford Credit noted its managed leverage was 6.7 to 1. The company indicated it distributed $1 billion to its parent in the fourth quarter for a total of $2.5 billion of distributions in 2010.

Looking ahead to the current year, Ford Credit declared that it expects to be solidly profitable but at a lower level than last year, reflecting primarily the non-recurrence of lease depreciation expenses and credit loss reserve reductions of the same magnitude as 2010.

By the end of this year, Ford Credit expects its managed receivables to be in the range of $80 to $85 billion. Management also projects to pay distributions to its parent company of about $2 billion.

"We are pleased with our 2010 performance, which enabled us to increase our planned distributions," Ford Credit chairman and chief executive officer Mike Bannister stated.

"We expect results to be solid though more moderate in 2011 as we continue to provide strong support for Ford, our dealers and customers," Bannister added.