Larry Culp, General Electric Co.’s chief executive, plans to set his sights on the company’s problematic financial-services business after he cuts overall debt and stabilizes its power-generation division, he told investors Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging presentation at the Electrical Products Group conference, Culp reiterated GE’s latest financial forecasts and discussed the steps he is taking to streamline its operations. “We are changing the way we run the business,” he said. “From a business that was often run top-down…to a business that’s going to be run from the bottom up.”
GE GE, -0.60% has struggled the past two years—losing $200 billion in market value over 2017 and 2018—with slumping profits in its power business and troubles in GE Capital, leading it to change CEOs, cut its dividend twice and set plans to break itself apart. Culp, who took the helm in October after six months on the board, has projected up to $2 billion in negative cash flow for 2019.
GE Capital has been a key part of the conglomerate’s profit engine for decades, but it has also been the root of some of its recent problems and continues to be a concern for investors. The financial-services division ended 2018 with more than $109 billion in assets and $66 billion in debt.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com
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