GE to Combine Revenues of Current and Lighting

In a footnote to its 2017 4Q earnings report, GE announced that for the time-being, it will be combining the revenues of Current, Powered by GE and GE Lighting.

The statement in the earnings report reads, “Beginning in the third quarter of 2017, the Energy Connections business within the former Energy Connections & Lighting segment has been combined with the Power segment and presented as one reporting segment called Power. As a result of this combination, our GE Lighting and Current, powered by GE (Current) businesses, have been reported as a separate segment called Lighting.”

The report went on to say, “Revenues of $0.5 billion were down 7%, with Current up 9% and the legacy lighting business down 21%. Segment profit was $50 million up from $3 million last year. The 2016 total year results for the Lighting segment included the reported results of GE Appliances before its divestiture in 2Q’16.”

In November, GE announced a restructuring plan that would focus on three areas, Aviation, Power, and Healthcare.  It is a key part of the effort to make GE “smarter and nimbler”, while shedding some of its less-profitable business sectors. It also cut its number of board members from 18 to 12.

In July, GE announced it was looking for a buyer for GE Lighting, the part of the company started by Thomas Edison in 1890.  The restructuring announcement in November meant Current, Powered by GE, was also up for sale.

The decision to combine the revenues of Current, Powered by GE and GE Lighting could be part of a plan to sell both of them together.  So far, there have been no official bids to buy them, but speculation continues that a number of companies may be interested.