GE Meets The Street

Fairfield, Conn., Oct. 10, 2008 – GE announced today third quarter 2008 earnings from continuing operations of $4.5 billion, or $.45 per share, down 12% and 10%, respectively, from third quarter 2007, driven primarily by a decrease in financial services earnings. Third quarter revenues from continuing operations were $47.2 billion, up 11%.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said, “On September 25, we revised our third-quarter and full-year 2008 guidance to reflect the current volatile environment. Reported earnings are fully in line with guidance, and we have continued to take decisive steps to strengthen GE in a tough environment. “Our infrastructure and media businesses continued to see signs of strength,” Immelt said. “Energy Infrastructure led the quarter with a 31% increase in segment profit based on broad-based global demand and double-digit increases in orders and services. NBC Universal grew segment profit 10%, its eighth straight quarter of growth.

3Q 2008 Earnings In Line with 9/25/08 Revised Guidance (Continuing Operations)

............................................................9/25 Forecast........................... Actual
Earnings per share....................................$.43-$.48.................................$.45, (10%)
Industrial segment earnings (ex. C&I)...........+10-15%..................................+12%
Financial services earnings.......................~$2.0 billion...............................$2.0 billion, (38%)
Infrastructure orders................................+10%........................................+9%
Commercial paper......................................<$90 billion............................$88 billion

􀀹 Board-approved plan to maintain dividend at $1.24 per share through 2009
Other Highlights (Continuing Operations)
􀂃 Industrial organic revenue growth of 10%; total organic revenue growth of 3%
􀂃 Global revenue growth of 14%; global industrial revenue growth of 20%
􀂃 Total orders backlog of $170 billion; equipment backlog up 19%; service backlog up 22%
􀂃 ROTC of 17%; Industrial CFOA growth of 5%
􀂃 Higher loss provisions of $0.5 billion

Cable and films had a solid quarter, and the success of the Beijing Olympics showed the value of the network model. Technology Infrastructure grew segment profit 2%, with Aviation’s strong performance partially offset by a challenging quarter at Healthcare.
“Overall industrial growth should continue based on solid orders. Infrastructure orders grew 9%, with 5% growth in equipment and 16% growth in service,” Immelt said. “Our total orders backlog stands at $170 billion, up 20% from last year. We are encouraged by our sustained orders growth in services, as these revenues are reliable with attractive margins even in a period of economic volatility.
“Our financial services business generated $2 billion of earnings, consistent with our revised
expectations. While GE Capital is not immune from the current environment, we continued to
outperform our financial services peers. We are improving our margins and focusing these
businesses on the right products and markets. GE Capital is on track to earn over $9 billion for the year,” Immelt said.
“In addition, GE has taken proactive steps to reduce leverage and improve liquidity, consistent with being one of six Triple-A-rated industrial companies in the U.S. We have raised $15 billion of committed capital that makes the Company more secure in the short term, but could be used to play offense in the long term,” Immelt said.

Third Quarter 2008 Financial Highlights:
Earnings from continuing operations were $4.5 billion, down 12% from $5.1 billion in the third
quarter of 2007. EPS from continuing operations was $.45, down 10% from last year. Segment profit fell 11% in the quarter, as strong 31% growth at Energy Infrastructure was more than offset by a 33% decline at Capital Finance.
Including the effects of discontinued operations, third quarter net earnings were $4.3 billion ($.43 per share) in 2008 and $5.6 billion ($.54 per share) in the third quarter of 2007.
Revenues grew 11% to $47.2 billion. GE Capital Services’ (GECS) revenues grew 2% over last year to $18.4 billion. Industrial sales were $28.9 billion, an increase of 17% from the third quarter of 2007. Cash generated from GE operating activities in the first nine months of 2008 totaled $13.6 billion, down 18% from $16.7 billion last year, reflecting a $3.6 billion decrease in GECS’ dividends primarily due to a non-repeat $2.7 billion special dividend and a third quarter 2008 reduction in the GECS dividend rate to 10% of earnings. The Company had solid Industrial cash flow from operating activities of $11.3 billion, an increase of 5%, for the first nine months of 2008.
“We are on track to meet our September 25 revised guidance for the full year, adjusted for dilution,” Immelt said. “We have taken a number of steps to protect investors from the downside risk in financial services, and we have ways to mitigate potential disruptions in infrastructure and media markets, but the environment remains challenging. We have big backlogs, great products, stable service revenue, strong operating discipline, an unmatched global position and multiple revenue streams. As a result, the Company is well positioned to perform in a very difficult environment, and our Board has approved our plan to sustain the GE dividend through 2009,” Immelt said. GE will discuss preliminary third quarter 2008 results on a conference call and Webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today. Call information is available at www.ge.com/investor, and related charts will be posted there prior to the call.