GE Announces First Quarter 2019 Results

GE (NYSE:GE) announced results today for the first quarter ending March 31, 2019. GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. said, “We saw progress in the first quarter as we continued to execute on our priorities to improve our financial position and strengthen our businesses. We announced the sale of BioPharma, closed the Wabtec merger, settled WMC, and improved our operating performance. We delivered strong industrial orders in the quarter, up 9 percent organically, with backlog closing at $374 billion, up 6 percent year over year. Our quarterly results were better than our expectations, largely driven by timing of certain items, which should balance out over the course of the year. Therefore, we expect our performance for the year to be in line with our previous commentary.”

During the first quarter, GE continued to take action to improve its financial position and strengthen its businesses. The Company announced the sale of BioPharma to Danaher for more than $20 billion in cash proceeds, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, and closed the merger of GE Transportation with Wabtec, resulting in $2.9 billion of cash proceeds and a 24.9% ownership stake in Wabtec. GE Capital completed $1.1 billion of asset reductions and paid down $2 billion of external debt. GE also recently reached final agreement with the United States Department of Justice to settle the FIRREA investigation of WMC for $1.5 billion, as previously reserved and disclosed.

Culp concluded, “I am encouraged by the improvements we are making inside GE. This is one quarter in what will be a multi-year transformation, and 2019 remains a reset year for us. We continue to focus on reducing leverage and improving the underlying performance of our businesses to create sustainable, long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders.”

• Read the full results on GE's Investor Relations website.