Financial services, energy and industrial conglomerate General Electric has reported third quarter net earnings of $5.5 billion, up 14% compared to the third quarter of 2006.
General Electric’s (GE) revenues were $42.5 billion, up 12%, organic revenue growth was 8% and global revenue growth was 15%.
GE’s total orders were up 20% to $24 billion, and total backlog grew $19 billion year-on-year, an increase of 43%. Major equipment orders were $12 billion, up 39%, and major equipment backlog grew to $47 billion, up 56%. Services orders were up 4%, and customer service agreement (CSA) backlog stood at $96 billion, up 7%.
GE achieved its 11th straight quarter of organic revenue growth of 2-3 times global GDP. Services revenues were up 7% and global revenues grew 15%. GE’s year-to-date segment operating profit margin was up 70 bps to 15.8%.
Jeff Immelt, GE’s chairman and CEO, said: GE delivered a solid quarter in spite of extreme volatility in the financial services market and some one-time items in our industrial businesses. Infrastructure delivered double-digit segment profit growth of 12%, led by a strong performance at oil & gas, transportation, and energy. Our aviation business remains solid with equipment order growth of 93%. In the quarter, we had an increase in our aviation development programs of $0.1 billion.