General Electric is preparing to sell its appliances unit, ending more than a century as the first name in American household goods.

GE, the largest maker of appliances for new American homes, has suffered the knock-on effects of the sub-prime crisis. With the US mired in a housing slump - foreclosures climbed 65 per cent in April, and in the last quarter house prices recorded their biggest fall in 29 years - homeowners are struggling to refinance or secure loans for household goods.

GE, the second-largest US company, has appointed Goldman Sachs to investigate a spin-off or auction of the division, which could raise between $5 billion and $8 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive, is under pressure to improve the company's performance, particularly since last month, when GE shocked Wall Street with an unexpected drop in first-quarter profits. That news sent its shares down 12 per cent for the year, four times the 3 per cent overall decline of the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Mr Immelt has been shedding the company's slower-growth businesses which are failing to expand fast enough to help GE meet its annual profit growth target of 10 per cent. Appliances contributed just 4.1 per cent of sales in 2007.

Last year GE sold its plastics unit to the chemicals company Saudi Basics Industries Corp in an $11.6 billion deal, and its private label US credit card and Japanese consumer lending units are also up for auction.

But the sale of the appliances unit would be particularly symbolic. GE's white goods have been part of the American consumer consciousness for over a century, and the company was often the first to introduce appliances - from the automatic clothes washer to the two-door refrigerator-freezer - which became, literally, fixtures and fittings in the quintessential American home.

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