GE Reports Q3 Earnings: Setting Up GE Businesses To Win

The company also announced immediate actions to strengthen its balance sheet and position its businesses for success. First, GE plans to reduce its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.01 per share beginning with the board’s next dividend declaration, which is expected to occur in December 2018. This change will allow GE to retain approximately $3.9 billion in cash per year, compared to the prior payout level.

GE also intends to reorganize its GE Power unit to accelerate the business’ operating and financial improvements. GE plans to create two units. The first is a unified Gas business combining GE’s gas product and services groups. The second unit will hold the portfolio of GE Power’s other assets, including the Steam, Grid Solutions, Nuclear, and Power Conversion divisions. The company also intends to consolidate Power’s headquarters structure to ensure these units can best serve their customers.

In October, GE named H. Lawrence Culp Jr. as its new chairman and chief executive. Culp, 55, served as CEO of Danaher Corporation. He joined the GE board in April of this year. “After my first few weeks on the job, it’s clear to me that GE is a fundamentally strong company with a talented team and great technology,” Culp said. “However, our results are far from our full potential. We will heighten our sense of urgency and increase accountability across the organization to deliver better results.”

Orders for the quarter were up 13 percent organically, with organic revenue up 1 percent, compared to third quarter 2017. GE’s Aviation, Healthcare and Transportation units performed well, supported by solid market fundamentals. But this was offset by Power.

“We are on the right path to create a more focused portfolio and strengthen our balance sheet,” Culp said. “My priorities in my first 100 days are positioning our businesses to win, starting with Power, and accelerating deleveraging. We are moving with speed to improve our financial position, starting with the actions announced today. I look forward to updating you further on our progress in early 2019.”

Top image: GE supplied 66 wind turbines for Merkur, a 400-megawatt German offshore wind farm. The farm has enough capacity to generate up to 1,750 gigawatt-hours annually — enough to supply 500,000 German homes with renewable electricity. Image credit: GE Renewable Energy. Above: Turbines from GE Power are generating electricity around the world, including in Iraq, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Image credit: GE Power.

GE Aviation reported orders of $9.1 billion, up 35 percent compared to third quarter 2017, with equipment orders growing 82 percent. Revenues were up 12 percent to $7.5 billion, including 303 LEAP engine shipments versus 111 last year.

Power reported orders of $6.6 billion, down 18 percent year over year. Though the business faced internal and external challenges, it continued to deliver for customers. GE Power’s Monitoring and Diagnostics Center was in high gear during hurricane season. Located in Atlanta and serving as the world’s largest power generation monitoring facility, the center houses a team responsible for overseeing real-time operating conditions inside 5,000 turbines, generators and other equipment located at 950 power plants in 80 countries and serving 350 million people.

The Renewable Energy business reported orders down 3 percent, and revenues of $2.9 billion, up 15 percent compared to third quarter 2017. Onshore Wind reported equipment sales up 37 percent. The division also launched a new wind turbine platform called the Cypress Onshore Wind Platform, which will have the capability to power the equivalent of 5,200 European homes.

LEAP jet engines developed by CFM International, a 50/50 joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, use fuel nozzles 3D-printed from metal. GE Aviation has already printed 30,000 of them. Image credit: Adam Senatori for GE Reports.

GE’s remaining businesses, Healthcare and Transportation, continued to perform well. Healthcare reported continued growth with strong productivity and execution with orders of $5.1 billion — up 3 percent organically from third quarter 2017. Life Sciences reported revenues up 4 percent. The Transportation business reported a significant increase in orders, which reached 603 locomotives. The merger of GE Transportation and Wabtec is expected to be completed by early 2019.

GE’s historic Lighting business reported a segment profit of $26 million, up 86 percent. GE Capital generated net income of $19 million in the quarter and remains focused on shrinking and deleveraging itself. Baker Hughes, a GE company, also released its financial results this morning, reporting revenues of $5.7 billion, up 7 percent year over year.

For all our third-quarter highlights by business, check out the below and share!

For more information about GE’s third-quarter results, please visit GE’s investor relations website.