General Motors Corp. continues to see the majority of its profits come from its banking business rather than from making and selling cars and trucks, according to the Detroit Free Press.

On Jan. 20, GM reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $1 billion, which would have been a loss if not for a nearly $1.3-billion gain on the sale of its stake in the operator of the DirecTV satellite television service. The Detroit automaker's fourth-quarter results were flat with last year, and better than Wall Street experts anticipated. But not better enough, apparently, the Free Press noted. GM shares slipped 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $53.87 on Jan. 20.

Boosted by GMAC's record $2.8 billion profit, GM reported net income of $3.8 billion for the year, more than double 2002's $1.7 billion. Those results were also inflated by the sale of Hughes Electronics to News Corp., which also pumped about $4.2 billion of cash to GM, which it redirected to its pension funds.

Losses in Europe were cut nearly in half to $286 million, but the company had been shooting for break-even. "I would characterize this as marginal

improvement and still very disappointing," said John Devine, GM's vice chairman and chief financial officer, referring specifically to the

fourth-quarter net loss of $66 million. At the same time GM posted record profits from Asia Pacific of $177 million, where it gained share