GENERAL ELECTRIC CO - Record Third-Quarter 2000 Results Earnings Per Share
Up 19% to $.32 - Revenues Up 18% Over 1999
Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 11, 2000 (Market News Publishing via COMTEX) -- GE
achieved record results for the third quarter of 2000 with broad-based strength
across the company's businesses, Chairman John F. Welch reported this day.
Specific highlights include: -- Revenues for the third quarter increased to a
record $32.0 billion, 18% above last year's quarter, reflecting continued growth
from globalization and product services.
-- Third-quarter earnings per share increased 19% to $.32, up from last year's
$.27, and earnings increased 20% to $3.180 billion. Both earnings per share and
earnings were records for the quarter.
-- Excluding the effects of a third-quarter retirement benefit provision
associated with the new labor agreement, GE's third-quarter operating margin was
17.6% of sales, up from last year's 16.7%, reflecting increasing benefits from
GE's focus on product services, Six Sigma quality and e-Business initiatives.
GE's reported third-quarter operating margin was 16.6%.
-- GE's industrial businesses achieved revenue growth of 18% above third quarter
1999. Operating profit for six of seven operating segments increased by double
digits -- led by Power Systems, Medical Systems, Plastics and Aircraft Engines.
-- GE Capital Services' third-quarter earnings rose to $1.478 billion, 17% above
last year's $1.262 billion. These record results reflect the globalization and
diversity of GE Capital's businesses, with strong double-digit increases in its
Specialized Financing, Consumer Services, Equipment Management and Mid-Market
Financing segments.
-- Cash generated from GE's operating activities during the first nine months
was a record $9.9 billion, up 34% from last year's $7.4 billion. As part of the
$22 billion share repurchase program, GE purchased $495 million of its stock
during the third quarter to reach $17.0 billion -- 943 million shares--purchased
since December 1994.
"In addition to delivering record third-quarter results, GE's businesses made
aggressive moves to position themselves for strong future growth", Mr. Welch
said.
Highlights of recent activities include: GE Power Systems (GEPS) continued to
experience strong demand for power generation equipment and services. Orders for
the quarter were up 90% to $7.3 billion. Power Systems continued to win the
majority of the orders for heavy-duty gas turbines in the United States with
orders more than double the third quarter 1999 level. Demand for fully packaged
25-to-60 megawatt gas turbines at S&S Energy Products continued to build with
orders up more than three-fold from the 1999 quarter. Power Systems added $1.2
billion in new long-term service agreements in the quarter bringing the total
commitments for these long-term contracts to $12.2 billion. GEPS continued
redefining the large portable power market with the first five TM2500 portable
power plants launched this summer at Commonwealth Edison being shipped to Cork,
Ireland, where they will supply up to 110 megawatts of temporary winter peaking
capacity. GEPS acquired Smallworldwide, a UK-based developer of software
solutions for spatial mapping of networks.
GE Aircraft Engines continued to win the majority of the world's orders for
airline jet engines, including more than $2 billion in commercial engine wins at
the Farnborough Air Show and significant orders for the longer-range Boeing 777
aircraft from ILFC, ANA and Air France. Lockheed Martin selected GE engines for
the U.S. Air Force C-5 modernization program with a potential value in excess of
$2.5 billion. GE Engine Services reported nearly $1 billion in new multi-year
service contracts with several airlines including Qantas, Ansett/Air New Zealand
and Japan Air Lines.
GE Capital took broad-based actions to drive future growth. GE Americom launched
its GE-7 satellite, reinforcing its position as the number one provider of
satellite services in North America. Penske truck leasing and rental business
acquired Rentway, Ltd., expanding Penske's North American service network and
positioning Penske as the leading Canadian truck leasing and rental business. GE
Capital Aviation Services and GE Equity announced a strategic investment in
Carmen Systems, a worldwide leader in developing solutions for airlines to
optimize the use of aircraft and crews. GE Capital formed a joint venture, Japan
Equity Capital Co. Ltd., with Sumitomo Corp. and Daiwa Securities to manage a
private equity fund in Japan.
GE Medical Systems (GEMS) completed three acquisitions to enhance its technical
position and growth. Magnex will expand GEMS performance in the fast-growth
high-field MR market; MicroMedical increases GE's presence in cardiovascular
information systems; and Access Medical is the industry's largest multi-vendor
used equipment business. GEMS e-Business momentum continues to build with online
orders surpassing $1 billion year-to-date, and more than 650 diagnostic units
with Internet connectivity.
GE Transportation Systems (GETS) acquired Harmon Industries, Incorporated.
Harmon's wide range of railroad and transit signaling, wayside and control
products and systems complement GETS service offerings. GETS was awarded a
Canadian Pacific Railway contract to service more than 300 General Motors' EMD
locomotives. GETS received locomotive orders for 60 U.S. units from Amtrak and
10 units from Adtranz in Europe.
NBC garnered the most Emmy nominations and awards for the sixth consecutive
year. The West Wing and Will & Grace won the best drama and comedy series,
respectively. The West Wing broke the all-time record for Emmy wins by any
series in a single season. NBC's Today Show in Sydney had two of its top ten
most watched weeks in the 49-year history of the show. NBC's Today Show, Nightly
News and Tonight Show With Jay Leno continue to win their time periods finishing
the quarter #1. CNBC Business Day continued its strong ratings performance
beating CNN for the fourth consecutive quarter. NBC's Olympic success was
broad-based with coverage on NBC reaching 185 million Americans during its 17
days of coverage and boosted ratings for the Today Show 25%, CNBC 88% and MSNBC
181%. NBC Olympics.com had 43 million page views averaging 23 minutes per
visitor. NBC successfully negotiated long-term cable extension deals with the
vast majority of U.S. cable system operators and now has agreements for CNBC and
MSNBC Olympic cable distribution through 2008.
GE Plastics completed the acquisition of Cadillac Plastics, a global distributor
of plastic shapes including sheet, film, tube, rod and fabricated parts. This
addition expands its product offering and worldwide distribution network.
Plastics also announced the opening of two new compounding plants in Shanghai,
China, and Bangkok, Thailand, to serve its growing Asian customer base in the
business equipment, automotive and optical media markets.
GE Appliances registered significant market share gains from product and
distribution moves. New product introductions in the quarter were led by the
successful launch of Wizard(TM), the electronically controlled clothes care
system, the Advantium(TM) built-in wall oven, and the Aquarius(TM) front-loading
automatic washing machine. In August, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer,
announced that it would begin selling a full line of GE-branded major
appliances.
GE Industrial Systems continued to expand its portfolio of product offerings
through the acquisitions of the German company Graesslin, specializing in time
switches, and a majority interest in Instrument Transformers Inc., a leading
manufacturer of indoor-type instrument transformers for the industrial market.
Mr. Welch concluded: "The record results for the third quarter once again
demonstrate the ability of GE's diverse mix of leading global businesses to
deliver top-line growth, increased margins and strong cash generation. The
combination of global growth, expansion of our product services activities,
rapid introduction of new products, our Six Sigma quality initiative and our
e-Business initiatives position GE to deliver another year of record performance
in 2000. We are comfortable with the First Call analysts' consensus estimate of
$1.27 per share for 2000."
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company
with a commitment to achieving customer success and worldwide leadership in each
of its businesses. For more information, visit the company's Web site at
ge.com. |
