General Motors has reported continuing improvements in its financial health today.

For the third quarter of 2006 the company posted a profit on an adjusted basis, excluding special items, and generated its third consecutive quarter of record revenue.

GM reported a net loss of $115 million (£61 million) for the third quarter of 2006, compared with one of $1.7 billion (£905 million) for the same period last year.

The net loss for this year’s third quarter included $644 million (£343 million) in charges for special items, including goodwill impairment at GMAC and an increase to the charge associated with Delphi’s reorganisation.

2006 third-quarter adjusted net income, excluding special items, was $529 million (£281 million), on revenue of $48.8 billion (£26 billion).

These results represent a $1.6 billion improvement from the year-earlier loss of $1.1 billion (£586 million).

GM’s global automotive operations almost fully accounted for the improvement, while lower GMAC results were more than offset by benefits associated with taxation issues.

GM Europe posted an adjusted net loss for the quarter of $16 million (reported net loss of $103 million) reflecting an improvement of $105 million (£55 million) from the prior year’s loss of $121 million (£64 million), reflecting both structural cost reductions and improved quality of sales.