FAIRFIELD, Conn.--23 December 2010-- GE issued the following statement today regarding certain previously identified fourth-quarter 2010 items that taken together do not change the company's strong financial outlook for the fiscal year 2010.
| "As we covered in our December 14th presentation to investors, we anticipated a number of specific fourth-quarter items that offset each other. | |||
| While we understand that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) continue to make good progress toward approval of the sale of a majority stake in NBCU to Comcast, because of the lead time required, we will not close by year-end 2010. We expect that closing will occur in January 2011. As stated previously, we anticipate recognizing a large pre-tax gain and a small after-tax gain upon closing. We appreciate the intensive efforts of the FCC and DOJ, as well as by our own teams, and look forward to completing the process early in 2011. We look forward to working with our new partners at Comcast after the transaction is completed. | |||
| Separately, we recently received a decision from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding proposed phase 2 dredging the Hudson River. GE announced today that it has advised the EPA that it will perform the second and final phase of the Hudson River dredging project. We engaged in intensive and constructive discussions with the EPA, and the decision reflects our discussions and many of our proposals. GE has consistently said it wanted to complete the dredging and now looks forward to doing so under terms that achieve the scientific objectives of dredging in a practical and cost-effective way. We are proud of having met each and every one of our many commitments on this project, and we will continue to do so. | |||
| We expect this to resolve future uncertainty regarding Hudson dredging liabilities and to result in an after-tax charge of about $500 million in the fourth quarter. As discussed on December 14, we expect that positive items, including a favorable tax settlement, will offset this charge. | |||
| GE expects to have strengthened fourth-quarter performance consistent with our recent communications, including resolution of the Hudson matter." |
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:
This document contains "forward-looking statements" -- that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "see," or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties that could cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements include: current economic and financial conditions, including volatility in interest and exchange rates, commodity and equity prices and the value of financial assets; the impact of conditions in the financial and credit markets on the availability and cost of General Electric Capital Corporation's (GECC) funding and on our ability to reduce GECC's asset levels as planned; the impact of conditions in the housing market and unemployment rates on the level of commercial and consumer credit defaults; changes in Japanese consumer behavior that may affect our estimates of liability for Grey Zone claims; our ability to maintain our current credit rating and the impact on our funding costs and competitive position if we do not do so; the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings and other conditions which may affect our ability to pay our quarterly dividend at the planned level; the level of demand and financial performance of the major industries we serve, including, without limitation, air and rail transportation, energy generation, network television, real estate and healthcare; the impact of regulation and regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks, including the impact of financial services regulation; strategic actions, including acquisitions, joint ventures and dispositions and our success in completing announced transactions and integrating acquired businesses; and numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business and competitive nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements."
"This document may also contain non-GAAP financial information. Management uses this information in its internal analysis of results and believes that this information may be informative to investors in gauging the quality of our financial performance, identifying trends in our results and providing meaningful period-to-period comparisons. For a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures presented in this document, see the accompanying supplemental information posted to the investor relations section of our website at www.ge.com."
Trevor Schauenberg
GE Corporate VP Investor Communications
[email protected]
1-203-373-2424
Anne Eisele