Business
Kimberly-Clark Announces Third Quarter 2024 Results and Reaffirms 2024 Profit Outlook
Delivers net sales of $5.0 billion on 1 percent organic sales growthResults and outlook reflect strong in-market execution, effective cost management and
About this update from Kimberly-clark Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"Delivers net sales of $5.0 billion on 1 percent organic sales growthResults and outlook reflect strong in-market execution, effective cost management and productivity\nDALLAS, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today reported third quarter 2024 results driven by market-leading consumption growth from pioneering, innovative new products, and leveraging sustained productivity momentum.\n\n\"Our third quarter results reflect strong execution across the business as we transform our organization,\" said Kimberly-Clark Chairman and CEO, Mike Hsu. \"I'm very proud of our teams' ability to deliver organic top-and-bottom-line growth, driven by market share gains and improved productivity, even against the backdrop of a dynamic consumer environment.\"\nHsu continued, \"With our Powering Care strategy in full swing, we are accelerating our innovation pipeline and reducing costs to deliver higher-quality consumer solutions for every price point, and simplifying our operational structure so that we can be faster and more responsive in our markets. We are on track to deliver strong operating profit, margin, and EPS growth in 2024 while investing to maintain our business momentum into 2025.\"\nQuarter Highlights\nNet sales of $5.0 billion were down 4 percent, with organic sales growth of 1 percent versus the prior year.Reported gross margin was 36.0 percent, adjusted gross margin was 36.7 percent, up 90 basis points versus the prior year, driven by strong gross productivity gains.Diluted earnings per share were $2.69; adjusted earnings per share were $1.83, up 5 percent versus prior year including a $0.07 year-on-year headwind from currency translation.Third Quarter 2024 Results\nThird quarter sales of $5.0 billion were 4 percent lower than the prior-year period, including negative impacts of approximately 3 percent from foreign currency translation and approximately 1 percent from the divestiture of the K-C Professional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) business completed in July 2024. Organic sales increased 1 percent, driven by a 1 percent increase in price while volume and mix were in line with a year ago. Price-led gains reflected necessary pricing actions to address higher local costs in hyperinflationary economies, mainly in Argentina. Volume and mix were positive in Developed Markets (representing Au...