“We continued our excellent operating performance in the third quarter and built momentum for future growth,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “We delivered $.38 per share despite approximately $300 million after tax of hurricane-related insurance losses. Excluding the impact of our insurance portfolio repositioning and earnings from our principal pension plans, earnings grew 13% and earnings per share grew 6%. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />
“The economy we see continues to be very strong, with our total orders for the quarter up 27%. Eight of our 11 businesses delivered at least double-digit earnings growth with continued strong performance on cash flow from operating activities. GE Energy performed as expected, and we saw real earnings momentum at Transportation, Commercial Finance, Consumer Finance and in services across our businesses.
“Our cash performance was exceptional, with 32% growth year-to-date. This reflects our continued focus on cash management and larger dividends from our financial services businesses. We are also ahead of our plan to reduce the ‘parent-supported’ debt of our financial services businesses.
“NBC Universal and GE Healthcare both made excellent progress integrating their respective major acquisitions. NBC Universal made full use of its new cable networks and produced a terrific Olympics broadcast watched by more than 200 million Americans. Healthcare launched a new molecular diagnostics unit that combines the strengths of Amersham and GE Medical Systems.
“We also continued to invest in our growth initiatives, with launches of new technology such as Healthcare’s Vivid i(TM) portable ultrasound; global growth such as Consumer Finance’s entry into <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Russia and expansion in Korea; and significant customer wins for 600 of our low-emission and fuel-efficient GE Evolution Series(TM) locomotives. I’m proud of the GE team and its passion for imagination and growth.”
“This continued performance,” Immelt said, “further strengthens our confidence in our outlook for double-digit earnings growth in the fourth quarter of 2004 and in 2005.”
