Bulletin: Whirpool Corp.'s EMEA Disposal Agreements Are Credit Positive Despite Weak Preliminary Fourth-Quarter Results

This report does not constitute a rating action. CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 17, 2023--S&P Global Ratings today said that Whirlpool Corp.'s (BBB/Negative/A-2) weak preliminary fourth-quarter guidance, and expectation its operational performance in 2023 will be similar to 2022, indicate there is a reduced cushion in its metrics relative to our downgrade trigger over the next 18 months. The company's fourth-quarter results were negatively affected by a now-resolved disruption at one of its North American suppliers. We believe Whirlpool's ongoing EBIT declined by about 70% in the quarter and by about 55% when excluding the effects of the supplier disruption. Based on this, and our continued expectation that it will prioritize using its discretionary cash flow for debt repayment, we

...CHICAGO (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 17, 2023--S&P Global Ratings today said that Whirlpool Corp.'s (###/Negative/A-2) weak preliminary fourth-quarter guidance, and expectation its operational performance in 2023 will be similar to 2022, indicate there is a reduced cushion in its metrics relative to our downgrade trigger over the next 18 months. The company's fourth-quarter results were negatively affected by a now-resolved disruption at one of its North American suppliers. We believe Whirlpool's ongoing EBIT declined by about 70% in the quarter and by about 55% when excluding the effects of the supplier disruption. Based on this, and our continued expectation that it will prioritize using its discretionary cash flow for debt repayment, we estimate the company's pro forma S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage will reach or slightly exceed our 3.5x downgrade trigger in 2022 before falling to 3.3x in 2023. Our revised S&P Global Ratings- adjusted leverage figures are more than 0.5x above our...

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