General Electric Posts Third Quarter Profit

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) on Friday said that its third-quarter profit fell nearly 9 percent amid foreign-exchange-currency fluctuations as its finance business continued to decrease the size of its portfolio while focusing on its core business.

The Fairfield, Conn., conglomerate posted a profit of $3.19 billion, or 31 cents per share, down from $3.49 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring and other charges, GE reported earnings of 36 cents per share, a penny better than the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected.

Revenue fell 1.5 percent to $35.7 billion, slightly less than the nearly $36 billion analysts had predicted.

Overall, the company's bottom line was also hit by $132 million of foreign exchange-related costs.

Revenue at its GE Capital fell 5.7 percent to $10.67 billion, while profit was up 13 percent. The parent company has been reducing its reliance on its financial arm in recent years, selling assets including banking and insurance operations. At the same time, GE has been building up its industrial businesses, which investors tend to value more highly.