GE's Technology Infrastructure division reported a 6 percent increase in profit for its preliminary results of the 2009 first quarter, despite a 22 percent decline in profit from within its healthcare segment.

For the quarter, the Technology Infrastructure group overall reported revenues of $10.4 billion, which were flat compared with last year, and a segment profit of $1.8 billion--which the company attributed to "demand for jet engines and service, which helped to temper slowing sales of medical imaging equipment to U.S. hospitals," reported Bloomberg.

Within its healthcare division, the company saw a 9 percent decline in revenues from last year's quarter to $3.54 billion this year for total equipment orders, which GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said was "a good result in this economic environment," during a webcast presentation this morning.

Segment profit declined 22 percent for healthcare, posting $411 million in the first quarter of 2009. Immelt said this "decline is driven largely by negative volume, as well as a negative foreign exchange impact."

"Overall, this was a tough quarter in terms of orders," Immelt noted.