January 31, 2019
GE REPORTS Q4 EARNINGS
Today GE shared its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 financial results. Read the materials on GE’s investor website here and tune into to our webcast at the same link beginning at 8:00AM ET.
GE reported revenues of $33.3 billion, GE cash flows from operating activities of $6.4 billion, adjusted GE Industrial free cash flows (non-GAAP) of $4.9 billion, continuing earnings per share (EPS) of $0.08, and adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of $0.17. Profit growth in Aviation, Healthcare, and BHGE was offset by weakness in Power. Full details, including full-year results, can be found here.
“Our strategy is clear: de-leverage our balance sheet and strengthen our businesses, starting with Power,” said GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. “To do this, we are improving execution, customer focus, and how we set priorities across GE. I’m confident in our team, technology, and the global reach of GE’s brand and relationships. We have more work to do, but I’m encouraged by the changes we’re making to strengthen GE and create value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.”
ONE BIG HAPPY RENEWABLE FAMILY
As energy customers increasingly seek reliable, affordable green power, GE announced this week that it’s consolidating all of its renewable and grid assets into a single business: GE Renewable Energy. That includes work previously done under the auspices of GE Grid Solutions, like bringing electricity to the mountains of northern India (see story below). And it includes projects like the Merkur offshore wind farm in Europe’s North Sea, which is already taking advantage of tech and know-how from GE’s renewable and grid businesses to help Germany achieve its goal of generating 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.
With over 35,000 wind turbines installed globally, the vast majority on land, GE is already one of the world's leading turbine suppliers. The consolidated GE Renewable Energy boasts a streamlined portfolio containing all of GE’s wind projects and tech — onshore and offshore — as well as hydro, grid assets, and hybrid renewables including solar and storage systems. It also includes the manifold digital solutions that back up GE engineering worldwide.
You don’t need a weather forecaster: Throughout the world energy market, the winds of change are blowing in the direction of renewables. In 2017, renewable capacity additions accounted for two-thirds of global net electricity capacity growth. With more than 40,000 employees and upwards of $16 billion in revenue, the new business will have the size and scale it needs to expand — and to succeed. “With this move, GE Renewable Energy will have the most diverse renewable energy portfolio in the industry, offering customers the wide range of products and services they need to seamlessly bring green electrons to the grid from one fully integrated business,” Jerome Pecresse, CEO of GE Renewable Energy, said.
For GE Renewable Energy — if not for Kermit the Frog — it’s easy being green. Learn more about the newly consolidated business here.
MILE-HIGH MILESTONE
One of the greatest development stories in recent memory is the electrification of India: Some 500 million citizens of that country have gained access to power since 2000, and where satellite photos taken over India were once dim, they now twinkle with hope. But power still needs to find its way to some 15 percent of the Indian population, many of whom live in places that are hard to reach and subsequently hard to wire up — such as the mountainous state of Jammu and Kashmir. GE’s Grid Solutions unit, which became part of GE Renewable Energy this week, is on the case, though. It recently completed a new electrical substation in the rugged Jammu and Kashmir district of Baramulla that’s bringing power to 500,000 more people.
Wintry mix: The Baramulla substation sits more than a mile high in the Himalayas, in an area that’s picture-perfect in warm weather but a bit punishing when things cool down. “This substation is unique,” said Shailesh Mishra, a member of the Grid Solutions team that built the facility. “It’s the first time GE has built one with such harsh weather and freezing temperatures.” Given the conditions, engineers opted to work during the warmer months, but still had to contend with the local geography — hauling the equipment, for instance, along bumpy mountain roads, over hairpin turns and through narrow tunnels. The installation was part of a larger Indian project to run transmission lines through 11 major towns and districts in Jammu and Kashmir, giving the area an overall bump in transmission capacity. That’ll allow it to draw extra power when it’s needed most: during the winter, when families in the frostbitten Kashmir Valley have typically had to endure plunging temps and blackouts.
Learn more about this electrifying project here.