General Electric Profit Increases 2% for Year

General Electric, which last month announced plans to acquire RCA for $6.28 billion, reported that its fourth-quarter and full-year net earnings rose about 1% and 2%, respectively, from a year earlier.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based company had net earnings in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1985, of $660 million, up from $652 million in the same period a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue totaled about $8.7 billion, up from $8 billion a year earlier.

For all of 1985, GE earned $2.34 billion, a “modest” 2% increase over 1984 profits of $2.28 billion, the company said.

Full-year revenue was about $28.3 billion, a 1% increase over 1984 sales of $28 billion, according to the company’s preliminary, unaudited figures.

“GE’s aircraft engine, aerospace and financial-services businesses had an excellent year in 1985, and our factory businesses had a significant turnaround,” GE Chairman John F. Welch said in a prepared statement. “However, a number of our markets were flat or down in 1985, reflecting the general sluggishness in the U.S. economy.

“Within the framework of somewhat better earnings for 1985, we made significant additional progress toward our long-term goal of disposing of businesses that don’t fit GE’s future and of strengthening the productive capabilities of those that do,” Welch said.