General Motors would have had a real solid year in 2014 if it weren't for all those recalls.
The Detroit automaker turned a $2.7 billion profit last year even with a $2.8 billion pretax cost to fix more than 30 million recalled vehicles and $400 million set aside for death and injury claims, according to the Associated Press.
Besides recalls, everything else seemed to help out GM last year. Buyers couldn't get enough of GM's latest redesigned pickups and SUVs in North America thanks to low gas prices, which dropped to $2.26 per gallon on average, and an improved U.S. economy.
Last year was so good for GM, the company decided to increase its dividend next quarter by 20 percent, to 36 cents, which is currently pending board approval.
"We're really going to carry the positive momentum into 2015," Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said, according to the Associated Press. "We expect both aggregate earnings and profit margins to improve in all of our automotive regions."
GM's full-year earnings came to $1.65 per share, according to the automaker. Net income was down 26 percent compared to $3.8 billion in 2013. Excluding one-time items, the company made $3.05, which beat Wall Street's expectation of $2.64, according to FactSet.
Revenue increased a little to $155.9 billion, which topped analysts' prediction of $150.6 billion.
GM rival Ford didn't see the same results last year as truck sales were down much of 2014 as it switched to a new pickup with an aluminum body.
Worldwide sales increased 2 percent to 9.9 million vehicles, a new record, and sales in China grew faster than the market, according to the Associated Press.
GM did have some trouble selling vehicles in places like Europe, Latin America and Russia.
The company received a lot of negative publicity in 2014 when the company recalled more than 29 million vehicles in North America to fix ignition switches in company vehicles. GM was aware of the issue for more than a decade yet failed to recall a signal car until last year.
Company shares rose nearly 5 percent in premarket trading on Wednesday.
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