Personal care products information provider Kimberly-Clark Corporation (K-C) reported that net sales in the first quarter of 2006 rose 4.2 percent to $4.1 billion. Before currency effects, sales improved approximately 6 percent, driven by a 4 percent increase in sales volumes, with higher net selling prices and favorable product mix each contributing 1 percent.
Diluted net income was 60 cents per share compared with 93 cents per share in 2005, a decrease of 35 percent. However, excluding charges related to competitive improvement initiatives for streamlining the company's operations, earnings before unusual items in the first quarter of 2006 were 93 cents per share, in line with the company's previous guidance of 90 to 93 cents per share.
Top-line growth, aggressive cost reductions and a lower share count all contributed positively to these results, enabling the company to offset significant cost inflation, a higher effective tax rate and incremental compensation expense for stock options recorded under the provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 123R.
Sales of consumer tissue products increased 3.8 percent versus the first quarter of 2005 and moved ahead more than 6 percent before currency effects. Sales volumes grew 3 percent, net selling prices rose 2 percent and product mix improved 1 percent.
The company's effective tax rate in the first quarter of 2006 was 27.8 percent. Excluding unusual items, however, the effective tax rate for the quarter was 27.0 percent compared with 21.2 percent in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to a lower level of income tax benefits from the company's ownership interests in synthetic fuel partnership activities.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
