GE agrees to buy Amersham

General Electric has agreed to buy British medical group Amersham as the giant US firm expands its high-growth, high-tech healthcare business.

Shares in the UK firm leapt 14.7 % to £7.57 by 8:32am today.

In March of this year Amersham's facility in Cork, opened a €16.5m extension doubling the workforce to 300.

GE today posted third quarter earning per share in line with market estimates and forecast double-digit earnings growth for the bulk of its operations in the remainder of the year.

Pre-tax earnings, excluding accounting changes, were $5.12bn (€4.36bn) from $5.26bn (€4.48bn), while revenues inched higher to $33.39bn (€28.43bn) from $32.72bn (€27.86bn).

Profit has been hurt by a drop in orders from manufacturers, a weak airline industry and fewer turbine sales.

High raw-materials costs used to make plastics have crimped the company's ability to raise prices