The equipment leasing business of GE Capital, the finance arm of industrial giant GE, reported a 40% year-on-year drop in profit for the first quarter of 2013.

GE Capital Lending & Leasing (GCLL) made $398m (€305m) net profit for the first three months of the year compared to $664m in the first quarter of 2012. The figure is also down 29% on the $564m net profit from the last quarter of 2012.

GE Capital as a whole grew net profit 9% year-on-year to $1.93bn in the first quarter while GE group operating profit was $3.5bn for the period, up 14% from the previous year.

GCLL’s total portfolio for leased equipment was up 4.7% from the first quarter of 2012 to $17.9bn in 2013. The division also saw a year-on-year drop in receivables for the quarter while write-offs fell from 0.6% to 0.4%.

In a statement accompanying the results, GE said GE Capital continued its strategy to reduce the overall size of its portfolio while "focusing on core growth".

Jeff Immelt, GE chief executive and chairman, said GE had anticipated a "challenging environment" in Europe but added conditions had "weakened further" than expected. He said the US and other growth markets were in line with expectation.

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