April 30, 2019
GE REPORTS Q1 2019 RESULTS
Today GE released its first-quarter results for 2019, reporting Industrial organic revenue growth of 5%, adjusted Industrial free cash flows of negative $1.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.14. The company also stated that its 2019 guidance remains unchanged.
In GE’s Power business, orders of $4.8 billion were up 14% organically; Renewable Energy reported orders of $2.4 billion; in the Aviation business, orders of $8.7 billion were up 7% organically; and Healthcare reported orders of $4.9 billion, up 10% organically, with Healthcare Systems orders up 5% organically.
The first step in a multiyear transformation: During the first quarter, GE also announced plans to sell its BioPharma business to Danaher for approximately $20 billion in cash proceeds. GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp Jr. previously said the deal was a “pivotal milestone” that demonstrated the company was taking action to strengthen its balance sheet. In addition, the merger of GE Transportation with Wabtec was completed and GE received $2.9 billion of cash proceeds at close, as well as a 24.9% ownership stake in Wabtec.
“I am encouraged by the improvements we are making inside GE,” Culp said. “We continue to focus on reducing leverage and improving the underlying performance of our businesses to create sustainable, long-term value for our customers, employees and shareholders.” To learn more about the company’s first-quarter results, visit our investor relations site.
SPECIAL DELIVERY
It wasn’t a bird! It wasn’t a plane! In fact, it was a human kidney soaring through the night skies of Baltimore several weeks ago, transported by drone from St. Agnes Hospital to the University of Maryland Medical Center 10 minutes away. While not a superhero exactly, the flying kidney reflected the heroic efforts of a team of University of Maryland physicians and affiliated experts, who celebrated the fruits of their labors when doctors transplanted the kidney into a 44-year-old patient — the world’s first recipient of an organ delivered for transplant by drone. The flight received assistance from AiRXOS, a division of GE Aviation that develops commercial drone infrastructure and support services. While it was the first of its kind, it won’t be the last.
Here’s looking at you, kidney: According to Ken Stewart, CEO of AiRXOS, there are two areas of medicine in which drones can make a particularly meaningful impact. One is the delivery of medication; the other is the delivery of organs. The recent flight demonstrated that “unmanned aircraft systems can help expand access to donated organs, helping improve outcomes for people in need of transplants,” Stewart said. Drones could deliver organs to geographically remote areas of the country. And they could sidestep some frequent logistical snags, like transport delays that can cause organs to be unacceptable for transplant by the time they reach their destination. Moreover, drones can take advantage of relatively empty airspace below 400 feet, said AiRXOS developer Michael Kuhlman: “This underutilized airspace leads to opportunities for applications like organ or medication delivery in both rural and urban areas. But while the technology is significant, the real goal is about enhancing human life.”
Taking a kidney on a drone ride is no mean feat — the team performed 14 test runs before undertaking the real thing, studying factors like temperature fluctuation and packaging performance. Learn more here about the ins and outs of organ transport via drone.
COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH ?
1. Giving Voice
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have figured out a way to generate “synthetic speech” by connecting brain activity with a “virtual vocal tract” on a computer. They hope the tech can be used by people who’ve lost the ability to speak due to stroke, paralysis or neurodegenerative disease.
2. Tumor Tracker
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and docs from Massachusetts General Hospital have come up with a fluorescent imaging system that helps surgeons find ovarian cancer tumors smaller than a poppy seed.
3. Digital Genes
With a little assistance from the sixth-fastest computer in the world, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory created the “largest simulation to date of an entire gene of DNA,” which will help them better understand human development and disease.
Read more about this week’s Coolest Things on Earth here.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“We continue to focus on reducing leverage and improving the underlying performance of our businesses to create sustainable, long-term value for our customers, employees and shareholders.”
— H. Lawrence Culp Jr., GE chairman and CEO
Quote: GE Reports. Image: GE Power.
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