Paper products firm Kimberly-Clark has posted a 5% increase in organic sales in the second quarter of its financial year, to $4.6 billion.
The group said that the net selling price rose 5% in the period, while product mix improved 1% and volumes fell slightly.
In the group's main market, North America, organic sales increased by 5% in its consumer products division, and by 2% in its K-C Professional arm.
Outside North America, organic sales were up 9% in developing and emerging markets, and 1% in developed markets, the company said.
'Excellent Progress'
"We made excellent progress in the second quarter," commented Kimberly-Clark chief executive Mike Hsu. "We delivered strong organic sales growth, gross margin improvement and higher earnings per share. In addition, we generated $90 million of cost savings and returned $520 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
"We also continued to launch innovations, pursue our growth priorities and increase investments in our brands," he added.
The group's Personal Care segment saw second-quarter sales of $2.3 billion, which was up 1% on the same period last year.
Elsewhere, its Consumer Tissue arm posted second-quarter sales of $1.5 billion, which was level with its performance last year, and K-C Professional saw sales decrease 5% to $0.8 billion.
Full-Year Outlook
Looking ahead to the full year, Hsu added that the group is "raising our top- and bottom-line outlook, reflecting strong execution and an improving commodity environment. We're also increasing our growth investments behind our brands and in capabilities that will position us for longer-term success.
"We continue to be optimistic about our opportunities to deliver balanced and sustainable growth and create shareholder value through execution of K-C Strategy 2022."
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
