OREANDA-NEWS. February 05, 2015. General Motors on Wednesday reported a jump in quarterly earnings on strong auto sales as it boosted its dividend.

GM, the largest US automaker, said net income grew 21 percent to \\$1.1 billion in the fourth quarter.

The results capped a turbulent year for the biggest US automaker in which it notched impressive auto sales even as the company came under fire over an ignition-switch recall scandal linked to at least 51 deaths.

Operating earnings in the fourth quarter improved in three of the four regional segments. In Europe, GM lost \\$393 million in the quarter compared with a loss of \\$365 million a year ago.

Worldwide auto sales grew 3.3 percent in the quarter to 2.6 million, with big gains in North America and the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa segments offsetting drops in Europe and South America.

On Tuesday, GM reported that US auto sales jumped 18 percent in January to 202,786, with strong gains in its Silverado pickup truck and GMC line of sports utility vehicles against a backdrop of falling gasoline prices.

GM's earnings were trimmed by an \\$800 million payment for the redemption of preferred shares.

"A strong fourth quarter helped us deliver very good core operating results in 2014 despite significant challenges we and the industry faced," said GM chief executive Mary Barra in a statement.

Based on the results, GM said it would ask its board to boost its dividend on common shares by 20 percent to 36 cents per share.

The move comes on the heels of a similar announcement by rival Ford Motor and follows pressure for a dividend increase from some GM investors.

Barclays called the dividend hike a surprise and said it showed the company's openness to shareholder feedback.

"This responsiveness shows that GM is willing to listen to investor input and keeps the hope alive that at some point in the future GM could provide a more meaningful return to shareholders -- although we caution not to expect anything this year as GM works through continued recall litigation and UAW (union) negotiations," Barclays said.

For the year, GM's earnings fell 26.3 percent to \\$2.8 billion. The results were hit by \\$2.8 billion in charges related to recalls.

On Monday, GM said it received more than 4,100 compensation claims tied to faulty ignitions, including 455 death claims. So far, only 128 claims have been deemed eligible for compensation, including 51 fatalities.

GM's quarterly results, excluding one-time items, translated into \\$1.19 per share, well above the 83 cents projected by Wall Street analysts.

GM shares surged 3.6 percent in early trade to \\$35.21.