Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

 

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GE Aerospace posts big gains on aviation industry recovery

 By Andy Brownfield – Senior staff reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier

 

Evendale-based GE Aerospace gave a hint on Tuesday of just how big it will be when it debuts next year as Cincinnati's newest public company.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings Jan. 24, showing how each of its business segments fared during their last year under the conglomerate's umbrella. GE spun off GE HealthCare on Jan. 4, and its energy portfolio will make its public debut as GE Vernova early next year, leaving GE Aerospace, which announced last week will be headquartered in Evendale, as the region's newest public company.

In its penultimate year as a subsidiary of General Electric, GE Aerospace saw $26 billion in revenue, up 22% from the year prior. That figure would make GE Aerospace Cincinnati's third-largest public company by revenue, behind Kroger and Procter & Gamble, respectively.

For perspective, GE Aerospace's 2021 revenue of $21 billion would have placed it at No. 165 on Fortune's list of the 500 largest companies in the U.S., guaranteeing that when GE Aerospace becomes its own public company, it will do so at the upper echelons of American business.

GE Aerospace brought in $7.6 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022, up 25% over the same quarter last year. The company reported its revenue growth was driven by its commercial services business through higher internal shop visits and strong external parts sales, as well as significantly higher deliveries of the LEAP engine, made by CFM International, its joint venture with French manufacturer Safran.

“We’re laser-focused on supporting airframers, airlines and lessors as they ramp post-pandemic," GE Aerospace CEO H. Lawrence Culp Jr., said in a statement. "Today that means providing stability and predictability for our customers – keeping our mature fleet flying and growing our new fleet. All the while, continuing to invest in technologies that will define the future of flight."

Based on its results in 2022, GE Aerospace predicts that it will see organic revenue growth in the mid-to-high teens in 2023, and operating profit of $5.3 billion to $5.7 billion. GE Aerospace reported 2022 profit of $4.7 billion.

GE said it anticipates revenue growth from its military engine business to yield "significant profit growth" for Aerospace in 2023.

GE Aerospace, along with CFM International, represents about 70% of the commercial aircraft engine industry.

Culp, GE's CEO, took over as CEO of GE Aviation in July, replacing John Slattery, who was named CEO in June 2020. Slattery was named executive vice president and chief commercial officer of the aviation business.

“I’m six months leading this business, and my conviction is even higher today that we have a premier franchise with a highly differentiated product and technology portfolio, and leading positions in attractive commercial and military sectors,” Culp said in a statement.

GE Aerospace is Cincinnati's third-largest manufacturer. It employs 9,000 in the Cincinnati region among its Evendale headquarters campus, a 6,000-acre test operations facility in Peebles, a global parts warehouse at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and electrical power research site bordering the University of Dayton.