Business News
3M Outlines Strategy for Accelerated Growth in Sales, Profits and Cash Flow
Wednesday 08. December 2010 - Company Provides Financial Outlook for 2011
At an institutional investor and analyst meeting in New York later today, 3M chairman, president and CEO George W. Buckley will outline the company’s ongoing commitment to investing in its core businesses while continuing to focus on profitability and cash generation.
“Our continuing strong performance clearly demonstrates that our growth strategy is working,” George W. Buckley said. “3M’s innovation engine has been revitalized and is driving growth across our many businesses and around the world.”
Buckley will highlight the company’s continuing commitment to growing its core businesses and expanding market share through increased investments in R&D, sales and marketing and new manufacturing capacity, particularly in fast growth developing economies. “Developing markets currently represent one-third of 3M sales and will likely reach forty-five percent by 2015,” Buckley added.
In addition, he will reaffirm the company’s focus on complementary acquisitions of both technologies and businesses to pursue adjacent market opportunities and to build new platforms for future growth. Buckley will cite 3M’s recent purchases of Cogent Inc. and Attenti Holdings S.A. in the security market space and Arizant Inc. in the healthcare market as examples of new high growth platforms for 3M.
Additional presenters at the conference will include: Pat Campbell, CFO; Fred Palensky, Executive Vice President, R&D; Stefan Gabriel, President, 3M New Ventures; Inge Thulin, Executive Vice President, International Operations and Rosa Miller, Vice President, Latin America.
3M also provided its 2011 sales and earnings outlook. The company anticipates sales of $29 billion to $30.5 billion, with organic sales volumes growing 5.5 to 7.5 percent, currency effects adding 1 to 2 percent and acquisitions adding 4 to 6 percent to sales for the year. 3M also expects that 2011 earnings will be between $5.90 and $6.10 per share, which includes a $0.27 per share year-on-year increase in pension expense. The company continues to expect 2010 earnings per share to be in the range of $5.59 to $5.63 per share, or $5.70 to $5.74 per share excluding the Medicare Part D-related charge recorded in the first quarter of 2010.
Excluding the 2011 pension expense increase, 2011 earnings are expected to be in the range of $6.17 to $6.37 per share, an increase of 10 to 14 percent versus 2010 estimated GAAP earnings levels.