Ford pays dividend for first time in five years

Ford Motor Company has reinstated a dividend for the first time in five years, with a 5 cents per share payout that the US car giant said it could sustain during a future downturn.

The payout will also benefit the group's executives and the founding Ford family, who between them hold 40 per cent of the voting stock. Ford was the only US car maker not to take a federal bailout in 2009.