Whirlpool has been making waves—some positive, some not so positive—since the Wall Street close Wednesday afternoon.
The company issued its First Quarter report, covered below, but much of the local buzz was generated by a report in Reuters, possibly previewing the ‘next shoe to drop’ in Whirlpool’s planned staffing cutbacks:
REUTERS:
Whirlpool Corp will lay off about 1,000 salaried employees globally, the home appliances maker said on Wednesday, according to a report from the news agency Reuters.
According to Reuters, The company said it first cut jobs in March and expects a second wave of reductions by early May.
Whirlpool aims to trim up to $400 million in costs this year, the Wall Street Journal, which reported the news earlier in the day, quoted the company’s chief financial officer, Jim Peters, as saying.
Shares of the company were up about 1.7% in extended trading.
Reuters continued, “Whirlpool in a regulatory filing on Wednesday said it was committed to its workforce reduction plans and expects to incur about $50 million of restructuring charges in 2024.”
Whirlpool had about 59,000 employees globally as of last year, according to its annual filing.
Whirlpool also reported a 3.4% drop in its first-quarter net sales to $4.49 billion on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Whirlpool issued its First Quarter Report, ahead of its planned quarterly Conference Call with financial analysts and Wall Street reporters Thursday morning.
It should be noted that Whirlpool ‘beat the street’ on two key estimates, Earnings Per Share and Total Revenue.
Chairman Marc Bitzer pointed to Whirlpool’s de-emphasis of European operations as a strong positive step:
“The closing of the Europe transaction marks a critical portfolio transformation milestone,” said Marc Bitzer. “We saw strong performance in Global SDA as well as our international businesses, and announced promotional program price increases in MDA North America consistent with the value of our products and brands to address sticky inflation.”
MARC BITZER, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CFO Jim Peters focused on the road ahead in his comments:
“During 2024, we have demonstrated our commitment to our capital allocation priorities,” said Jim Peters. “Wehave launched several new products, declared very strong dividends in Q1 and Q2, and repaid $500 million of our maturing term loan.”
JIM PETERS, CHIEF FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER
The company’s formal statement set down these headlines:
— Europe transaction closed on April 1st; expected to deliver $750M+ net present value of future cash flows and $250-$300M incremental cash flow in 2025
— Strong Q1 performance from Latin America, Asia, and SDA Global driven by share gains and cost performance, offset by challenging macro environment in North America, as expected
— Announced ~5% increase to all promotional program prices in MDA North America
— Declared $1.75 dividend per share in both Q1 & Q2; repaid $500 million of term loan in April
— Q1 GAAP net earnings margin of (5.8)% compared to prior year period of (3.9)%, impacted by a non-cash charge related to the Europe transaction; GAAP loss per diluted share of $(4.72)
— Ongoing (non-GAAP) EBIT margin(1) of 4.3%; ongoing earnings per diluted share(2) of $1.78
— Expect full-year GAAP earnings per diluted share of $5.00 to $7.00 impacted by the non-cash charge related to the Europe transaction
— Reaffirming full-year ongoing earnings per diluted share(2) of $13.00 to $15.00, cash provided by operating activities of $1.15 to $1.25 billion and free cash flow(3) of $550 to $650 million
It’s been widely speculated locally that the next round of Whirlpool staff cuts would come next Monday or Tuesday. However, that has not been confirmed in any manner by the company. The numbers speculated for layoff refer to companywide, not solely in Southwest Michigan.
