General Electric's order book swells to a record $229bn General Electric, the US industrial and financial services group, has reported strong growth in orders and an "improving" global business environment in the third quarter, as earnings came in at the same level as last year. The company, which is the largest US manufacturer by market capitalisation, also said it was continuing to raise profit margins, as cost cuts run ahead of its earlier plans. Underlying earnings per share were 36 cents, slightly ahead of the average of analysts" expectations and the same as in the equivalent period of 2012. Excluding one-off costs such as restructuring, earnings per share were 40 cents. The order intake during the quarter rose 19 per cent to $25.7bn, including a $1.9bn deal to sell six gas-fired power plants to Algeria, a $600m order for equipment for the Yamal liquefied natural gas project in Russia, and a commitment for aero engines from Lufthansa of Germany with a list price of $2.5bn. GE's order book rose to $229bn at the end of the third quarter, its highest ever, up $6bn from the end of the second quarter. Jeff Immelt, GE's chief executive, described the results as "very strong in an improving global business environment." Nigel Coe of Morgan Stanley said in a note: "The bulls will like this quarter given order strength and margin performance." Revenues were slightly weaker than expected, at $35.7bn - 1 per cent lower than in the equivalent period of 2012. However, margins in GE's industrial businesses are rising, and on course for the 0.7 percentage point increase for 2013 as a whole that the company promised last year. GE has already exceeded its target of cutting $1bn from the cost base of its industrial businesses this year, Mr Immelt said, and was on course to exceed that for the year as a whole. Profits were up in six out of GE's seven main industrial businesses, with particularly strong performances from the home and business solutions division, which includes appliances and lighting, and from aviation, including aero engines and other aircraft components. Even the power generation and water equipment division, which has suffered from tough conditions in developed countries" electricity industries, reported a 9 per cent rise in profits, thanks to a surge in demand for smaller generators which offset a slump in wind turbine revenues and a smaller decline in sales of large gas-fired plants. GE Capital, the financial services division, continues to shrink its balance sheet, with a 9 per cent drop in its ending net investment - a measure of assets - to $385bn. The company plans further reductions and is working on a possible spin-off of some of its consumer finance operations in an initial public offering. However, Shannon O'Callaghan of Nomura highlighted the 13 per cent growth in earnings at GE Capital, driven by consumer and property lending, which he described as "not the areas we want to see drive growth." He added: "Given these are the areas GE should be exiting, the earnings growth there is less appealing."