General Electric reported solid first-quarter earnings despite the economic downturn that has been plaguing many businesses this year. G.E.’s results were helped by higher profits in its aviation and transportation units and by G.E.’s finance division, GE Capital. The company reported net income of $3.53 billion, or 34 cents a share. This was up 16 percent from $3.03 billion, or 29 cents a share, reported in the quarter a year earlier.
Revenue in the first quarter was flat compared with figures in the period a year earlier, coming in at $35 billion, which was higher than Wall Street’s forecast of $34.5 billion. This included proceeds from the sale of its remaining stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast and higher revenue from GE Capital. Operating income increased 13 percent to $3.6 billion, or 35 cents a share, excluding gains from the NBCUniversal sale.
The company has seen sluggish growth in the United States and Europe. Economic weakness in Europe and other areas of the world has been holding back demand for industrial equipment. G.E.’s chief executive Jeffrey R. Immelt called the quarterly performance “mixed” and said that the first half of 2013 was expected to be the most challenging, with demand likely to pick up in the second half. Analysts believe that weak industrial demand will be a significant challenge for all of the big companies in the sector in the first half of this year. G.E. is the nation’s largest industrial corporation.
Revenue from the industrial business declined 6 percent, to $22.67 billion. Most of the decrease in industrial revenue was attributed to the company’s power and water unit. That unit saw lower sales of generators for electrical power plants and wind turbines as investment subsidies are being phased out and the demand for electrical power is down. Revenue in the power and water unit decreased by 26 percent to $4.8 billion, $1.7 billion less than in the same quarter a year ago. However, industrial orders were strong for oil and gas equipment, up 24 percent, and aviation orders, up 47 percent.
