3M Sales Fall 11% in April Amid Pandemic

By Dave Sebastian

3M Co. said Thursday that sales fell 11% in April to $2.3 billion as the need for face masks has surged while demand for other goods in its product line, such as industrial glues, has fallen amid factory closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sales in the transportation and electronics segment declined 20%, while consumer-segment sales fell 5% and safety-and-industrial sales fell 11%, said the company, which has pulled its full-year guidance. Health-care sales grew 5% for the month.

Organic local-currency sales, which includes volume and selling-price adjustments, fell 12% in April, 3M said. Acquisitions, net of divestitures, lifted sales by 3%, while foreign-currency translation weighed sales down by 2%.

In Asia Pacific, where the pandemic first had an effect earlier this year, sales fell 5% in April. Europe, Middle East and Africa sales fell 12%, while Americas sales fell 13%, the company said.

3M said it continues to see end-market demand in personal safety, electronics, general cleaning, food safety and biopharma filtration. Meanwhile, demand was weak for other end markets such as oral care, automotive original-equipment manufacturing and aftermarket, general industrial and stationery and office.

"April sales results were largely in line with month-to-date trends we discussed during our first quarter earnings call," Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Roman said.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 14, 2020 07:05 ET (11:05 GMT)

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