Manufacturing conglomerate 3M shared its 2020 third quarter financial results on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, showing a solid rebound after considerable declines in Q2.
The St. Paul, MN-based company posted total Q3 sales of $8.35 billion, up 4.5 percent year-over-year (YoY) and up sequentially from $7.2 billion in Q2 sales that were down 12.2 percent. Q3 organic local-currency sales improved 0.9 percent, far better than the 13.1 percent decline it had in Q2 and the 2 percent decline it had in the month of August.
3M’s total Q3 operating profit of $1.91 billion was down from $2.01 of a year earlier, while total profit of $1.41 billion was down from $1.58 billion of a year earlier. Adjusted operating profit of $1.9 billion ticked up 0.2 percent, while adjusted net profit of $1.4 billion was down 6.1 percent.
3M said Q3 end market demand remained strong in personal safety, home improvement, general cleaning, semiconductor, data center and biopharma filtration, while several other end markets — including healthcare, auto OEM, general industrial, consumer electronics, hospitality, office supplies, healthcare IT and traffic safety — continued to experience YoY declines largely driven by COVID-19-related headwinds, though most are improving.
The company’s largest business segment, Safety and Industrial, had Q3 sales of $3.0 billion that improved 6.9 percent YoY after falling 9.2 percent in Q2. Organic local-currency sales also increased 6.9 percent, with improvements in personal safety, roofing granules and automotive aftermarket, and declines in electrical, industrial adhesives and tapes, closure and masking systems and abrasives. Segment operating profit of $823 million jumped 27.2 percent YoY on operating margins of 27.2 percent.
In 3M’s other business segments in Q3:
- Transportation and Electronics sales of $2.3 billion were down 7.4 percent YoY, with organic sales down 7.1 percent.
- Health Care sales of $2.2 billion jumped 25.5 percent YoY, with organic sales up 8.1 percent.
- Consumer sales of $1.4 billion increased 5.6 percent YoY, with organic sales up 5.5 percent.
Geographically, 3M’s total Q3 sales improved 2.3 percent in the Americas and declined 1.8 percent each in Asia-Pacific and EMEA. Organic sales improved 3.4 percent in the Americas and declined 2.6 percent in Asia-Pacific and declined 0.3 percent in EMEA.
3M said its preliminary October revenue is estimated to range from flat to low-single digit YoY growth (including impact of one fewer business day vs. 2019).
