Industrial conglomerate General Electric saw its profit tumble 31 per cent to $1.95 billion in the first three months of 2010, primarily bogged down by lower earnings by some of its divisions.
The entity had reported a profit of $2.83 billion for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Revenues in the first quarter of this year fell 5 per cent to $36.61 billion, GE said in a statement.
"Segment profit fell 16 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2009, as 12 per cent growth at Energy Infrastructure was more than offset by earnings decline of 41 per cent at GE Capital, 18 per cent at Technology Infrastructure and 49 per cent at NBC Universal," it said.
Moreover, the company noted that revenues dropped mainly due to the acceleration of downsizing at GE Capital.
The company's Energy Infrastructure division raked in profit to the tune of $1.48 billion, while profits for the Technology Infrastructure division declined to $1.4 billion in Q1, FY10.
At the end of the first quarter, GE had $70 billion of consolidated cash, while total orders were worth $17.1 billion.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said that in the first quarter, the company saw encouraging economic signs, including increases in airline passenger miles and freight loadings and growth in local advertising markets.
"Our healthcare and oil & gas businesses experienced solid orders growth and our equipment and services backlog remains strong," he noted.
GE increased its investment in R&D by 16 per cent in the first quarter and has new products and services in the pipeline.
Regarding GE Capital, the group's business which was hit by the financial crisis, Immelt said the division's performance in the first quarter was very encouraging and "are seeeing solid signs of stabilisation".
About its outlook, Immelt said the company may "evaluate additional restructuring that will improve our earnings power going forward.
"We will have substantial cash available for allocation and we expect to grow earnings and dividends in 2011 and beyond."
