Kimberly-Clark profit falls 2 percent in first quarter

Monday, April 25th 2005, 10:07 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) _ Consumer-products company Kimberly-Clark Corp. said Monday that its profit slipped 2 percent in the first quarter even as revenue rose 5 percent led by improved sales of Kleenex tissues and other paper products.

Quarterly income fell to $450.1 million, or 93 cents per share, for the January-March period from $459.3 million, or 91 cents, in the year-ago period. The earnings for the company, which was formerly headquartered at Neenah, Wis., and still has operations in Wisconsin, matched the average estimate of 93 cents per share from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Net sales totaled $3.91 billion, up from $3.71 billion a year earlier and surpassing the $3.89 billion targeted by Wall Street analysts. Currency benefits boosted sales by nearly 3 percent.

Kimberly-Clark, whose brands include Scott toilet paper and Huggies diapers, said sales of consumer tissue products grew more than 7 percent on increased volume and net selling prices. Sales of personal-care products rose 4 percent, but selling prices declined due to competition in diapers and training pants in North America and Europe.

Meanwhile, sales of commercial products dropped by more than 1 percent, but would have grown 8 percent excluding year-ago revenue from its Neenah Paper business, which Kimberly-Clark spun off last summer.

Looking forward, the company pegged its second-quarter profit between 92 cents and 94 cents per share and estimated yearly earnings at $3.70 to $3.85 per share.

Analysts currently project quarterly income of 95 cents per share and a full-year profit of $3.81 per share. The year before, Kimberly-Clark earned 90 cents per share in the second quarter and $3.61 per share in 2004.