GE (GE) CEO Immelt Asks for Shareholder Feedback Into AGM 2013; Sets Near-Term Goals - InvestingChannel

GE (GE) CEO Immelt Asks for Shareholder Feedback Into AGM 2013; Sets Near-Term Goals

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General Electric (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Immelt is turning to shareholders for feedback on how the company is doing as GE preps to hold its annual meeting on April 24, 2013.

According to a letter obtained by Bloomberg, Immelt expects a “difficult” 2013 for its Power & Water unit due to “regulatory uncertainty.” Growth should return in 2014, he noted.

Cut SG&A to under 16 percent of industrial sales by 2014. Currently, SG&A is about 18.5 percent of industrial sales.

Would like to see 70 basis points of margin improvement in 2013, with an overall near-term goal of 15 percent margins and $100 billion of revs.

As noted earlier, Immelt is aiming to boost GE’s payout to shareholders. He wants to ultimately hit $18 billion in disbursements and cut stock float to “pre-crisis levels” of 10 billion shares.

Immelt also noted that GE currently has a $210 billion backlog, bolstered by expectations of $60 trillion in global infrastructure demand by 2030.

Shares of GE are down 0.9 percent Monday, but have risen about 12 percent so far in 2013. By comparison, the S&P 500 is up 8.8 percent while its Industrials index is up 10 percent for the year.

You can fire off an email to mailto:ask.jeff@ge.com.

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