General Electric profits boosted by acquisitions
Net income climbed 8% to $3.2 billion, or 32 cents a share, from $2.9 billion, or 30 cents, a year earlier.
Sales rose to $33.4 billion from $30.5 billion, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said in a statement.
Nine of 11 main businesses had profit increases of at least 10% as a rebounding economy helped lift sales of plastics and engine service.
Chief executive Jeffrey Immelt has said costs to integrate $30 billion in purchases will mean little growth this year.
Net income growth has not exceeded 10% since 2000, hurt by falling orders for turbines and engines and higher costs for materials used to make plastic.
&Mr Immelt repeated his earlier forecast that profits will rise at least 10% next year.
General Electric today closed the $10.3 billion purchase of medical equipment maker Amersham, the biggest acquisition in its history.
Costs to integrate the company will cut profits by as much as 2 cents a share in 2004, Mr Immelt has said.
The planned purchase of the media assets of Vivendi Universal and the initial public offering of 30% of Genworth insurance will be completed in May, Mr Immelt said in the statement.
The biggest jump in revenue was in consumer finance. Profit at the unit, which includes credit cards, rose 10% on a 30% revenue increase as the company completed acquisitions in France and Singapore.
Profit from insurance and the GE Energy unit fell, the company said in its statement. Cash from operating activities rose 67% to $2.6 billion, the company said.
Contribution to profit from the company’s pension fund was $4 million, or less than one-tenth of one cent a share, compared with $202 million, or about 2 cents in the year-ago quarter, the company said.
The 2003 acquisition of Instrumentarium Oyj, a Helsinki-based maker of monitoring equipment used in hospitals, will boost profit this year and helped first-quarter results, General Electric said.
