SKF and GE Oil & Gas, a unit of $GE, signed non-exclusive, licence-based collaboration agreement, aimed at further developing use of active magnetic bearing technologies within oil and gas sector. GE Oil & Gas will make use of SKF’s magnetic bearing technologies from front-end engineering design to installation, testing and service.
$GE swung to a loss of $9.8Bil in 4Q17 from a profit in the year-over period, after incurring tax-related charges of $6.2Bil in its insurance arm, GE Capital. GAAP loss per share during the quarter stood at $1.13, while adjusted EPS fell 41% to 27 cents. Hurt by lower sales in power segment, revenue fell 5% to $31.4Bil.
$GE Transportation signed two contracts, valued at over $900MM, with Kazakhstan's state-run railroad Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, as part of its long-term commitment to develop the country's railway infrastructure. The contracts include the delivery of 300 shunter locomotives and an 18-year service agreement.
Railroad company $CNI has decided to purchase 200 new locomotives from $GE over the next three years. Production of the locomotives will commence next year at the GE facility in Texas, and the units are expected to be delivered in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The order includes Tier-4 and Tier -3 Evolution Series locomotives.
Airborne Wireless Network (ABWN) entered into a Support Agreement on Dec. 14, 2017 with GE Aviation, one of $GE Business Units. ABWN anticipates that this relationship should significantly accelerate the development of ABWN's proprietary Hybrid Radio and Free-Optics Communications System to be demonstrated CY18.
$GE Power plans to reduce its global headcount by about 12,000 positions, affecting both professional and production employees. The headcount reductions, combined with actions taken previously in 2017, will position GE Power to reach its announced target of $1Bil in structural cost reductions in 2018.
As speculated over the past few weeks, $GE has decided to reduce it's quarterly dividend to $0.12 per share. This represents a 50% reduction from the current quarterly dividend of $0.24. This change will be effective beginning with the BoD's next dividend declaration, which is expected to occur in December, 2017.
$GE named Sue Siegel, CEO of GE Ventures, as its Chief Innovation Officer, effective immediately. In this role, Siegel will be responsible for developing and accelerating GE's long-term innovation strategy and will report directly to GE CEO John Flannery.
$GE said the final decision on its dividends and capital allocation would be announced at Investor Day, which will be held on Nov 13, 2017. Analysts had earlier predicted that the company would be forced to cut its dividend, in view of its dwindling cash flow.
While $GE said it plans to alter the company's work culture to ensure better accountability among mangers, it sidestepped when asked about Board size reduction. "I think it's healthy to have a lot of pushback and debate between management and the board," CEO John Flannery said.
Calling 3Q17 results "horrible," the new $GE CEO John Flannery promised to sell off about $20Bil worth of the company's assets withing two years. The CEO, however, did not specify which businesses would be shed. "Everything is on the table," Flannery told analysts during the earnings conference call.
In $GE's first quarterly report with John Flannery at helm, the manufacturing behemoth said its 3Q17 non-GAAP EPS fell 9% to $0.29, despite a 14% increase in revenue to $33.47Bil. "While a majority of our businesses had solid earnings performance, this was offset by a decline in Power performance in a difficult market," Flannery explained.
$GE shares fell 4.7% in pre-market trading after reporting a fall in 3Q17 earnings and lower FY17 EPS guidance. Earnings for the quarter fell to $1.8Bil, or $0.21 per share, compared to $1.99Bil, or $0.22 per share a year ago. The earnings were dragged down by higher restructuring costs, as the new CEO, John Flannery, grapples with poor cash flows.
