general-electric-ge-4q-profit-drops-19-percentUS industrial giant General Electric Co. (GE) has reported a 19-percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings, hurt by lower profits on products like jet engines and continuing troubles in commercial real estate lending.

The company said that its net profits for the three months to 31 December fell 19% from the same period last year to $3.13bn (£1.9bn), BBC reported. But GE chief Jeff Immelt said: “GE’s environment has improved and we saw some encouraging signs at year-end.”

According to Associated Press, GE, which makes everything from jet engines to refrigerators, posted net income of $2.94 billion, or 28 cents per share. That compared with $3.65 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier. Analysts expected 26 cents per share in earnings.

One of world’s largest companies, GE is considered a barometer of the nation’s economic health since it is involved in sectors ranging from energy to finance. Homeowners buy GE kitchen appliances, power plants use GE gas turbines and hospitals buy GE MRI machines. Consumers use credit cards backed by GE money and businesses turn to the company for loans to buy expensive equipment.

GE’s results for 2009 — a 37 percent drop in annual earnings — indicate just how deeply the recession affected the company.

The company’s GE Capital finance unit — the source of most of its problems in 2009 — squeezed out a modest profit in the fourth quarter. But it was still dogged by problems in its holdings and lending in commercial real estate. That unit posted a $593 million quarterly loss.

Jeffery Immelt said the Fairfield, Conn., conglomerate is on track to achieve the broad financial forecast it unveiled at its annual outlook meeting last month, which essentially called for flat overall 2010 results followed by “solid growth” in 2011.

Associated Press and BBC contributed this reports.


Read More

Related posts:

  1. Apple Earnings
  2. “The other shoe drops – Fannie Mae asks for $8.4 billion” and related posts
  3. “Ford Posts $997m 3Q Profit” and related posts
  4. Ford Motor Company – Ford Stock Slips Despite Huge Profit
  5. Wall Street bonuses shoot up 17 percent in 2009

Recent Articles:


iconan error occurred while fetching the news