(Corrects to show not interested in big mining acquisition)
* Aims to cut costs by up to $1 bln in 2013
By Scott Malone
CROTONVILLE, N.Y. Sept 27 (Reuters) – General Electric Co
on Thursday raised its 2012 industrial revenue growth
forecast to 10 percent, the high-end of its prior 5 to 10
percent range, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told investors.
“We like the industrial portfolio and we think this is going
to deliver double-digit growth,” Immelt said, referring to the
largest U.S. conglomerate’s broad portfolio of industrial
products that includes jet engines and medical imaging devices.
The company would look to boost its presence in the mining
sector, but is not interested in buying “a big, underground,
mining company,” Immelt said.
Like many large U.S. manufacturers, the world’s biggest
maker of electric turbines has been coping with an uncertain
economy as worries about Europe’s debt crisis and ongoing budget
battles in Washington make some customers wary of investing in
new equipment.
The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company aims to cut sales,
general and administrative costs by $700 million to $1 billion
in 2013, with an additional $1 billion to $1.3 billion in cuts
in 2014, Immelt said at GE’s leafy training center in
Crotonville, New York, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of
New York City.
The company also aims to reduce its outstanding share count
below 10 billion, or back to the level it was before GE sold new
shares to raise cash during the 2008 financial crisis. GE
currently has 10.56 billion shares outstanding, according to
Reuters data.
GE shares were up 2.7 percent at $22.70 on the New York
Stock Exchange.
(Reporting By Scott Malone; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and
Leslie Gevirtz)
