Bulletin: Kimberly-Clark Corp. Caps Off Strong Year With Mixed Fourth Quarter Results

CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 24, 2024--Kimberly-Clark Corp. (A/Stable/A-1) reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings today in what capped off a successful year of profit recovery and credit measure improvement. We estimate S&P Global Ratings-adjusted EBITDA fell about 5% in the quarter, mainly due to currency-related losses in hyper-inflationary markets such as Argentina; increased overhead costs such as labor and distribution; and higher marketing, research, and general expenses. These headwinds were partly offset by materially lower input costs and the company's ongoing productivity program. Reported gross margin strengthened by over 210 basis points and has now reached pre-pandemic levels of about 35%. We estimate S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage strengthened to 1.9x as of Dec. 31, 2023 (0.1x sequential quarterly improvement due to

...January 24, 2024 CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 24, 2024--Kimberly-Clark Corp. (A/Stable/A-1) reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings today in what capped off a successful year of profit recovery and credit measure improvement. We estimate S&P Global Ratings-adjusted EBITDA fell about 5% in the quarter, mainly due to currency-related losses in hyper-inflationary markets such as Argentina; increased overhead costs such as labor and distribution; and higher marketing, research, and general expenses. These headwinds were partly offset by materially lower input costs and the company's ongoing productivity program. Reported gross margin strengthened by over 210 basis points and has now reached pre-pandemic levels of about 35%. We estimate S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage strengthened to 1.9x as of Dec. 31, 2023 (0.1x sequential quarterly improvement due to net debt reduction) compared with 2.3x as of Dec. 31, 2022. We believe the low end of Kimberly-Clark's 2024 organic sales guidance...

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