Industrial conglomerate GE reported that first-quarter sales in its GE Healthcare division were essentially flat for the period (end-March 31), although the group's profit edged up 2% as the company works to control costs.
For the quarter, GE Healthcare reported revenues of $4.29 billion, down slightly compared with sales of $4.3 billion in the first quarter of 2012. The division's profit rose to $595 million, compared with $585 million in the same period the year before.
The company said that a 10% revenue increase in growth regions helped offset "headwinds" in developed markets. U.S. sales fell 1%, European sales fell 4%, and revenues in Japan dropped 13%.
GE reported that orders for healthcare equipment were $2.3 billion in the quarter, down 3%, while healthcare service orders stood at $2.0 billion, down 2%. Orders in the U.S. were flat, while orders in China grew 15% and orders in Europe fell 9%.
The group had an operating profit margin of 13.9%, up 0.3 percentage points. The company said the profit improvement was due to its efforts to control costs in the face of pressure on sales volume.
