S&P Global Ratings expects Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s underlying operating performance to remain resilient because of the strength of its brand portfolio and ongoing productivity efforts, despite tough competition and renewed currency headwinds. We forecast that the U.S.-based consumer-products company will generate over $2 billion of free cash flow annually thanks to steady earnings and more disciplined working capital management, though the majority will be used for shareholder payments. We are revising our outlook to stable from negative and affirming all of our ratings on the company, including our 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit ratings. We are revising our liquidity assessment to strong from adequate; we are also lowering our management and governance assessment to satisfactory from strong due to
