GE releases its 2009 annual report

GE on March 9 announced that its online annual report 2009 entitled “Renew” is now available on the company’s Web site at www.ge.com/annualreport.

The report focuses on the company’s solid 2009 performance amid continued global economic pressure and its execution against four strategic priorities: keeping GE safe and secure; executing and positioning our infrastructure businesses to perform through the cycle; creating financial flexibility; and protecting our franchise and brand. The report also details a roadmap for GE’s renewal, characterized by: a simplified portfolio focused on infrastructure; investing in profitable growth; creating market solutions to tough societal problems; an energized and accountable team; and attractive growth in earnings, cash and returns.

The report consists of chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt’s letter to investors; pictorial chapters on the key elements of the GE renewal model; a letter from the board’s presiding director Ralph Larsen on the company’s compensation philosophy; an overview on governance; and a comprehensive financial section. The online version features video stories about customers, including AEP and Petrobas.

“In 2008-’09, a period many considered the most difficult economic crisis since the Great Depression, GE earned about $30 billion and generated $36 billion of cash. And we finished this period much stronger than we started,” Immelt writes in his letter. “The world has been reset. Today’s uncertainty feels like the ‘new normal.’ We will not return to the relative tranquility of the pre-crisis world. Growth will be harder to come by, trends will be more volatile and constituent voices will be louder. We see this environment as an opportunity to renew GE. GE is an innovative technology and services company that can solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, grow earnings and have substantial cash available to reinvest in the company or return to shareowners.

“In the markets we have chosen, we will have a meaningful competitive advantage,” Immelt writes, driven by unique GE strengths that include broad technical leadership, service expansion, emerging-market growth, valuable partnerships, strategic financial services and a legacy of leadership development. “We expect 2010 earnings to be flat with 2009. In 2011 and beyond, we expect GE to generate solid earnings growth, even if the economic recovery is uneven. We will achieve this growth while generating substantial ‘free cash’ that could further enhance investor returns.”

GE has begun distributing more than four million reports and proxy statements in preparation for its annual shareowners meeting on Wednesday, April 28 in Houston.

“We worked hard during the crisis to prepare the company for the future,” Immelt says. “We are emerging as a ‘Renewed GE,’ a company that is more competitive and positioned for long-term growth.”

GE is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs approximately 300,000 people worldwide.