Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth told an analyst conference in Detroit that the company was affected by the floods in Thailand that for weeks closed a Ford-Mazda Motor Co joint-venture plant.

Booth made his comments to auto industry analysts at a conference on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show.

Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, speaking at the same conference, affirmed that Ford will show a better pretax operating profit in 2011 than it did in 2010.

Ford is in a joint venture in Thailand for its auto assembly plant with Mazda Motor Co (>> Mazda Motor Corp.). That plant was shut for several weeks due to the floods.

Previously, Ford had said it would show a profit in its three global regions: Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and Europe.

Ford shares were down 4 cents at $11.76 in early afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall, editing by Matthew Lewis)

Stocks treated in this article : Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motor Corp.