GE 2011 Annual Report Download - page 50

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48 GE 2011 ANNUAL REPORT
2010 and 51% in 2009. The effects of currency fl uctuations on
reported results increased revenues by $2.5 billion in 2011,
increased revenues by $0.5 billion in 2010 and decreased rev-
enues by $3.9 billion in 2009.
GE global revenues, excluding GECS, in 2011 were $54.3 bil-
lion, up 9% over 2010. Increases in growth markets of 29% in
Latin America, 28% in China and 46% in Australia more than off-
set decreases of 12% in Western Europe. These revenues as a
percentage of GE total revenues, excluding GECS, were 55% in
2011, compared with 50% and 52% in 2010 and 2009, respec-
tively. GE global revenues, excluding GECS, were $49.8 billion in
2010, down 6% from 2009, primarily resulting from decreases
in Europe, Middle East and Africa, partially offset by an increase in
Latin America.
GECS global revenues decreased 6% to $23.2 billion in 2011,
compared with $24.7 billion and $25.7 billion in 2010 and 2009,
respectively, primarily as a result of decreases in Western Europe.
GECS global revenues as a percentage of total GECS revenues
were 47% in 2011, compared with 50% in both 2010 and 2009.
GECS global revenue decreased by 4% in 2010 from $25.7 billion
in 2009, primarily as a result of decreases in Europe, partially off-
set by an increase in Australia.
TOTAL ASSETS (CONTINUING OPERATIONS)
December 31 (In billions) 2011 2010
U.S. $335.6 $322.8
Europe 213.0 250.2
Pacific Basin 62.3 62.6
Americas 46.7 41.9
Other Global 58.4 57.9
Total $716.0 $735.4
Total assets of global operations on a continuing basis were
$380.4 billion in 2011, a decrease of $32.2 billion, or 8%, from
2010. GECS global assets on a continuing basis of $319.3 billion at
the end of 2011 were 1% lower than at the end of 2010, refl ecting
declines in Europe, primarily due to dispositions and portfolio
run-off in various businesses at Consumer and lower fi nancing
receivables and equipment leased to others at CLL.
Financial results of our global activities reported in U.S. dollars
are affected by currency exchange. We use a number of tech-
niques to manage the effects of currency exchange, including
selective borrowings in local currencies and selective hedging of
signifi cant cross-currency transactions. Such principal currencies
are the pound sterling, the euro, the Japanese yen, the Canadian
dollar and the Australian dollar.
Environmental Matters
Our operations, like operations of other companies engaged in
similar businesses, involve the use, disposal and cleanup of sub-
stances regulated under environmental protection laws. We are
involved in a number of remediation actions to clean up hazard-
ous wastes as required by federal and state laws. Such statutes
require that responsible parties fund remediation actions regard-
less of fault, legality of original disposal or ownership of a disposal
site. Expenditures for site remediation actions amounted to
approximately $0.3 billion in 2011, $0.2 billion in 2010 and $0.3 bil-
lion in 2009. We presently expect that such remediation actions
will require average annual expenditures of about $0.4 billion for
each of the next two years.
In 2006, we entered into a consent decree with the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to dredge PCB-containing
sediment from the upper Hudson River. The consent decree
provided that the dredging would be performed in two phases.
Phase 1 was completed in May through November of 2009.
Between Phase 1 and Phase 2 there was an intervening peer
review by an independent panel of national experts. The panel
evaluated the performance of Phase 1 dredging operations with
respect to Phase 1 Engineering Performance Standards and rec-
ommended proposed changes to the standards. On December 17,
2010, EPA issued its decision setting forth the fi nal performance
standards for Phase 2 of the Hudson River dredging project,
incorporating aspects of the recommendations from the inde-
pendent peer review panel and from GE. In December 2010, we
agreed to perform Phase 2 of the project in accordance with the
fi nal performance standards set by EPA and increased our reserve
by $0.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 to account for the
probable and estimable costs of completing Phase 2. In 2011, we
completed the fi rst year of Phase 2 dredging and commenced
work on planned upgrades to the Hudson River wastewater pro-
cessing facility. Based on the results from 2011 dredging and
our best professional engineering judgment, we believe that our
current reserve continues to refl ect our probable and estimable
costs for the remainder of Phase 2 of the dredging project.