<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">They don't mention GE's arms dealing profits. Isn't GE up to its neck in manufacturing arms? marta</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ge15oct15,1,6130346.story?coll=la-headlines-business"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ge15oct15,1,6130346.story?coll=la-headlines-business</SPAN></FONT></A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="5"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><B>GE's Profit Jumps 15% Despite Hurricanes</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><B>The company says its growth globally offset storm-related losses in the third quarter.</B></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">From Associated Press</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">October 15, 2005</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">STAMFORD, Conn. — General Electric Co. said Friday that its profit rose 15% in the third quarter as growth globally offset hurricane-related losses.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Net income at GE, with businesses as varied as building jet engines and power plants, making loans and operating the NBC television network, rose to $4.67 billion, or 44 cents a share, from $4.07 billion, or 38 cents, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 9% to $41.9 billion.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">The results matched analysts' expectations for profit of 44 cents a share, a Thomson Financial survey showed.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">"Despite a volatile environment, our fundamentals remain very strong, as we achieved double-digit earnings growth across all six of our businesses," GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Immelt said GE expected profit growth of 10% to 15% next year. He said he hoped to cut costs by about $1 billion in coming years.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">GE's global sales grew 16% in the quarter, and Immelt said China would account for about $5 billion of revenue this year. The company made its first real estate investment in India during the quarter, and acquired South Korea's third-largest credit card company and Turkey's third-largest bank.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">GE incurred $377 million in hurricane-related reinsurance losses, but that was partially offset in the third quarter by a gain of about $250 million from the sale of its insurance business.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Profit rose 13% to $603 million at GE's NBC Universal unit even as sales fell 26% to $3 billion from a year earlier, when NBC broadcast the summer Olympics. GE said Universal Pictures' "The 40- Year-Old Virgin" surpassed $100 million in domestic box-office receipts.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">GE executives said NBC was making progress in its efforts to rebuild prime-time programming, but forecast losses at NBC Universal in the fourth quarter and next year.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">GE expects per-share earnings for the year of $1.81 to $1.83. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is for earnings of $1.82.</SPAN></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times; min-height: 19px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Shares of GE rose 32 cents Friday to $34.34.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></BODY></HTML>