Whirlpool leadership is out with its Second Quarter 2022 financial report, ahead of Tuesday morning’s quarterly Conference Call with Wall Street analysts and writers.
Whirlpool’s numbers are more complicated than usual, highlighted—or overshadowed—by $747 Million Dollars in one-time charges flowing from the company’s sale of a Russian business division after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War. Whirlpool chose to exit that sector of its European operations, taking a big hit in the sale that dramatically affects its overall Second Quarter performance.
Setting aside that financial bump in the road, Whirlpool officials are pointing to continued fairly good results in a “challenging environment” of Worldwide inflation, higher costs and slowing customer demand.
Marc Bitzer
Whirlpool Chairman Marc Bitzer acknowledged that overall company sales were down 4.3 % in Q2 and profits (EBIT) were off 24% from 2021’s second quarter performance. Bitzer, however, feels Whirlpool’s numbers were good under the circumstances and set the scene for smoother sailing in the remainer of 2022.
“We delivered 9% ongoing(2) EBIT margins globally and 14% in North America – this is further proof of our more profitable and agile business model,” said Marc Bitzer, chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool Corporation. “Moreover, long-term fundamentals of demand remain strong and we continue to progress our portfolio transformation to position ourselves to drive long-term value.”
Whirlpool Chief Financial Officer Jim Peters focused on how the quarterly performance impacted shareholders and positioned the company for the future.
“In Q2, we returned approximately $400 million to shareholders while continuing to fund innovation,” said Jim Peters, chief financial officer of Whirlpool Corporation. “Our strong balance sheet positions us well to invest in high margin and high growth businesses and deliver on our commitment to return $1.5 billion to shareholders in 2022.
In North America, Whirlpool reported sales down 2.3% and profits (EBIT) off 25%.
Europe, not surprisingly, was the big loser on Whirlpool’s World Sales Map: Sales there were down 10.3%, largely due to the Ukraine War. Latin America sales were flat, while Asia—a smaller piece of the Whirlpool ‘pie’—reported sales up 30%
Bitzer, Peters and other Whirlpool leaders will answer questions from the financial media and stock analysts Tuesday morning at 8am.
