General Motors yesterday reported flat earnings for the fourth quarter, missing market expectations, despite rising sales that returned the US auto giant to pole position globally.

Net income was $500 million for the final three months of 2011, the same as a year ago, General Motors Company said in a statement.

Earnings of 39 cents per share fell short of the 41 cents estimated by most analysts.

GM, the biggest US automaker, said the fourth-quarter financial results included a net loss from special items of $200 million or $0.11 per share.

Part of the red ink came from charges related to its investment in Ally Financial, its former auto lending branch.Operations in Europe, under pressure from the eurozone debt crisis, was also to blame. GM Europe posted a $600 million loss.

Revenue in the October-December period rose three per cent to $38.0 billion, compared with the year-ago period, the Detroit, Michigan-based company said.

Investors punished the results, sending GM shares down 2.1 per cent in pre-market trading.

For the full-year 2011, GM reported profit soared to $7.6 billion, 62 per cent higher than in 2010 and better than expected.

“In our first full year as a public company, we grew the top and bottom lines, advanced our global market share and made strategic investments in our brands around the world,” Dan Akerson, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

“We will build on these results as we bring more new cars, crossovers and trucks to market, and make GM a far more efficient global team. This includes reducing our break-even level in Europe and South America and driving higher revenues around the world.”

GM, which retook the top spot as the best-selling global carmakers from Toyota at the end of 2011, was upbeat about the 2012 outlook and predicted higher revenue.

The results marked GM’s sharp U-turn from near demise in 2008, when the global financial crisis forced it to turn to the US government for a bailout.

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