Paper firm’s profits not to be sneezed at

KIMBERLY-Clark Corp, best known for its Kleenex tissues, posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, as cost savings helped offset the negative impact of foreign exchange rates.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Jul 2013, 01:01 BST

Still, Kimberly-Clark stood by its full-year outlook, which calls for 2013 earnings per share of $5.60 to $5.75, excluding items.

The forecast includes expectations for higher cost savings but a bigger-than-anticipated hit from the stronger US dollar, which eats into sales from international markets.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In the second quarter, the firm earned $526m, or $1.36 per share, up from $498m, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs related to changes in its European business, earnings were $1.41 per share. On that basis, analysts on average were expecting $1.39 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales were roughly flat at $5.27bn, missing analysts’ estimate of $5.34bn.

Chairman and CEO Thomas J. Falk said: “We delivered another solid quarter of results while we continued to execute our global business plan strategies.”

He said that although the macro environment has become “more volatile recently”, the firm continues to be optimistic about its prospects to drive profitable growth.