Kimberly-Clark Sales Fall, But Top and Bottom Lines Beat Views

Kimberly-Clark Corp. on Tuesday said sales fell a higher-than-expected 4% in the March quarter, as the consumer goods company struggles with currency volatility and increased competition in its diapers segment.

Despite the drop, results still beat Wall Street expectations.

The maker of Huggies diapers has struggled in recent quarters as parents have skewed to the high and low ends of the price spectrum. The trend has played into the hands of rival Procter & Gamble Co., whose premium Pampers and low-end Luvs are gaining share.

Kimberly-Clark is also facing new competition from P&G's adult incontinence products and Japan's Unicharm Corp., which is starting to sell pull-up diapers in Brazil. Both threaten Kimberly-Clark's leading positions in the segments.

In the latest quarter, sales at the personal-care segment--which includes Huggies and is the largest segment by revenue--fell 3.1% to $2.31 billion, weighed by currency rates. Sales in North America fell 2% in the segment, hurt by lower volumes for Pull-Ups training pants and Huggies diapers.

Overall, Kimberly-Clark posted earnings of $468 million, or $1.27 a share, down from $538 million, or $1.41 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a charge related to balance-sheet remeasurement in Venezuela and other items, per-share earnings from continuing operations were $1.42.

Sales fell to $4.69 billion from $4.89 billion. Foreign exchange rates accounted for a 9% drop.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast per-share earnings of $1.33 a share on revenue of $4.61 billion.

Organic sales, which exclude foreign currency fluctuations and other adjustments, increased 5%, driven by a 11% gain in developing markets.

Sales at the consumer-tissue segment--which includes Cottonelle and Kleenex--fell 6.8% to $1.57 billion.

The company reaffirmed its 2015 guidance.

Shares, inactive premarket, have been down about 7% this year through Monday's close.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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