GE reports $13.6bln loss on finance sale charges

NEW YORK: General Electric Friday reported a $13.6 billion first-quarter loss on charges from its plan to sell most of GE Capital as profits rose in four of seven industrial businesses.
The big loss had been expected after GE said a week ago that it would take about a $16 billion charge due to the GE Capital divestment.
General Electric reported $3 billion in profits in the year-ago period.
The plan to sell most of its finance operations is part of an overhaul directed by chief executive Jeff Immelt to emphasize the company´s industrial and technological prowess.
In the first quarter, a big gain in aviation profits and smaller increases in transportation, appliances and lighting, and health care made up for lower profits from power and water, and oil and gas.
Overall industrial profits rose 8.6 percent to $3.6 billion.
Chief financial officer Jeff Bornstein told an analyst conference call that GE is on track to meet its target of $1.10-$1.20 per share in 2015 industrial earnings.
"We are running our businesses to the high end of that range," he said.
Immelt said the company was also on track to complete its takeover of the energy business of French company Alstom in the second half of the year.
General Electric had said April 10 that it would take a charge of about $16 billion in concert with the GE Capital sale to cover such costs as taxes on repatriated earnings and charges on businesses held for sale.
The capital charges are "largely impossible to analyze," said a Deutsche Bank note that described the results as "in line."
"Overall, we are encouraged by GE´s favorable margin performance and reiteration of the annual Industrial guidance," the German bank´s note said, while highlighting concerns about the company´s 2016 revenue outlook and a drop in industrial cashflow in the first quarter.
The first quarter´s earnings were also held back by the drag from the strong dollar, which dented revenues by $950 million.
"General Electric performed well in the first quarter, in an environment that remains volatile but with continued growth opportunities in infrastructure," Immelt said.
The plan to divest most GE Capital assets is "a major step in our strategy to focus General Electric around its competitive advantages," Immelt said. "We are reshaping the company."
The results translated into operating earnings per share excluding charges of 31 cents, a penny above analyst expectations.
Revenues were also affected by accounting for the GE Capital sale and fell 12.5 percent to $29.36 billion.
Shares in Dow member GE were the only gainer on the 30-stock blue-chip index amid a sharp market sell-off, rising 0.6 percent to $27.44 percent in morning trade.