Kimberly-Clark Announces Third Quarter 2017 Results

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today reported third quarter 2017 results and confirmed its previous guidance for full-year 2017 net sales and earnings per share.

Executive Summary
◦Third quarter 2017 net sales of $4.6 billion increased 1 percent compared to the year-ago period. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates benefited sales by nearly 1 percent and organic sales rose slightly. Organic sales were similar in North American consumer products. Outside North America, organic sales increased 3 percent in developing and emerging markets and fell 3 percent in developed markets.
◦Diluted net income per share for the third quarter was $1.60 in 2017 and $1.52 in 2016. Results benefited from volume growth, cost savings and reduced marketing, research and general spending, while performance was impacted by lower net selling prices and input cost inflation.
◦The company continues to expect that full-year 2017 net sales and organic sales will be similar, or up slightly, year-on-year. The company also continues to anticipate that full-year 2017 earnings per share will be at the low end of its target range of $6.20 to $6.35.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Falk said, “We delivered bottom-line growth in the third quarter in a challenging environment. We also achieved $125 million of cost savings and reduced discretionary spending to help offset inflationary cost headwinds. In addition, we returned more than $500 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We are confirming our previous full-year 2017 outlook and we continue to execute our Global Business Plan strategies for long-term success.”

Third Quarter 2017 Operating Results
Sales of $4.6 billion in the third quarter of 2017 were up 1 percent compared to the year-ago period. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates benefited sales by nearly 1 percent. Organic sales rose slightly, as volumes increased more than 1 percent while net selling prices fell 1 percent.

Third quarter operating profit was $854 million in 2017 and $836 million in 2016. The year-over-year comparison included benefits from volume growth, $125 million of cost savings from the company’s FORCE (Focused On Reducing Costs Everywhere) program and reduced marketing, research and general spending. Results were also impacted by lower net selling prices and $115 million of higher input costs, driven by increases in pulp and other raw materials.

The third quarter effective tax rate was 28.8 percent in 2017 and 30.0 percent in 2016. The rate in 2017 benefited from certain tax planning initiatives. The company expects that the full-year 2017 effective tax rate will be slightly lower than the 2016 adjusted effective tax rate of 30.7 percent.

Kimberly-Clark’s share of net income of equity companies in the third quarter was $24 million in 2017 and $33 million in 2016. At Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, results were impacted by higher input costs, partially offset by benefits from sales growth and cost savings.
more detail at:  http://investor.kimberly-clark.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1044872

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