Global appliance company, Whirlpool Corporation, has reported a 3.7% uplift in Q3 sales to the end of September compared with the same period in 2020.
Driven by cost-based pricing initiatives and continued strong consumer demand, Whirlpool Corporation’s $5.49 billion (£3.99bn) in Q3 net sales is up from last year’s $5.29bn. “We are pleased to have delivered profitable results in an inflationary environment, and increased Q3 net sales by 15% compared with 2019,” commented Gilles Morel, president of Whirlpool EMEA and executive vice-president of Whirlpool Corporation. “Our continuing innovation in our products and our operations gives us confidence in the resilience of our business and our long-term success.”
The corporation, which includes Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Indesit among its brands, has filed a pre-tax profit (ongoing EBIT) of $608 million, down 3.2% from $628m from the Q3 in 2020. The EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) saw net sales fall by 1.6% to $1.26m, while Q3 EBIT pre-tax profit plunged by more than a third (35%) to $28m (down from $43m).
The Whirlpool Corporation expects full-year 2021 net sales growth of around 13%. There is an increase in its full-year 2021 earnings per diluted share guidance to approximately $27.80 on a GAAP basis and around $26.25 on an ongoing basis.
Marc Bitzer, chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool Corporation commented: “We are announcing our increased long-term value creation targets as well as increasing our earnings per share guidance to around $26.25. We have, and will, continue to deliver strong performance in a challenging environment.”
These results also report that the cash provided by operating activities will be $1.95bn and the adjusted free cash flow of $1.7bn will remain unchanged. “We continue to strengthen our balance sheet with exceptional cash generation,” said Jim Peters, chief financial officer of Whirlpool Corporation. “We are on track to deliver yet another record ongoing earnings per share and expect to return over $1.2bn to shareholders in 2021.”
In 2020, the company reported full-year sales of around $19bn. It has 78,000 employees and 57 manufacturing and technology research centres.