When General Motors Corp. reported its third-quarter earnings in October, it didn't know about $24 million worth of loans made by its finance arm.

So on Tuesday, the company reduced its third-quarter net loss to $91 million, or 16 cents per share. GM reported a $115 million loss on Oct. 25, but that was before it found out about the loans made by the General Motors Acceptance Corp., GM said in a filing Tuesday with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

GM also said in the filing that it expects to take a $200 million after-tax charge in the fourth quarter for severance packages for about 2,000 workers at two component plants that will be closed.

The company said the plants, which make automotive lights, are owned by the Guide Corp., in Anderson, Ind., and Monroe, La. The closures were announced last month.

GM spun Guide off as a separate company in 1998, but the two plants continue to be included in GM's financial results, according to the filing.

GM and the United Auto Workers union are negotiating the severance packages for hourly workers that would include early retirements and buyouts, and the size of the charge could change depending on results of the talks, GM said.

Guide officials notified city officials in Indiana and Louisiana last month that the plants would be closed.

GM officials would not comment further on the filing, and messages were left for Guide officials at their headquarters in Pendleton, Ind.

In the filing, GM said the majority of the plants' work force will be laid off by the end of this year.

On the earnings restatement, GM said that it was unaware of the additional GMAC loans when it filed third-quarter financial statements in October.

"The reduction in net loss is attributable to additional loan sales that had not been previously reported" by General Motors Acceptance Corp., GM said in its filing.

In April, GM agreed to sell a 51 percent stake in GMAC to a consortium of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management LP, a private investment company. The group also includes Citigroup Inc. and Aozora Bank Ltd.

The sale is expected to bring GM about $14 billion and be completed by year's end.

The automaker's third-quarter financial report showed signs that parts of GM's restructuring were starting to yield results. In last year's third quarter, GM lost $1.664 billion, or $2.94 a share.

Financial chief Fritz Henderson said last month that GM is benefiting from significant cost reductions from its turnaround plan. He said the company is on target to reach $9 billion in annual structural cost reductions this year.

GM's revenue in the latest quarter totaled $48.89 billion, compared with $47.18 billion in 2005's third quarter.

For the first nine months of 2006, GM said it lost $3.025 billion, or $5.35 a share. In October, it reported a loss of $3.049 billion, or $5.39 a share, in the period. In the first nine months of 2005, GM reported a loss of $3.9 billion, or $6.90 a share.

Sales for the first nine months of 2006 totaled $155.53 billion, compared with $141.42 billion in 2005, GM said.

GM also said Tuesday that it would pay a 25 cent-per-share dividend in the fourth quarter, the same level paid in the third quarter.

The company also said that cuts in the life insurance benefits for white-collar retirees that its board approved last month will reduce GM's obligations to retirees by $600 million at the end of 2006.

GM shares fell 1 cent, or 0.03 percent, to $34.69, in late afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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AP Business Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com

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