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3M Plans to Cut 1,000 More Jobs

Associated Press
Published | Updated

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (3M), which announced a 13 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings, said Friday it will cut 1,000 more jobs this year than had been previously announced as it continues to cut costs in a tough global economy.

The diversified manufacturer of products like Scotch tape and Post-it Notes said that the new cuts would be accomplished by leaving jobs vacant as employees retire.

The company also intends to eliminate another 1,500 jobs this year that were part of a restructuring cutback announced last May.

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing eliminated 6,000 positions in 2001.

``These are tough and unusual times and I don't see the negative global economic situation abating anytime soon,'' chairman and CEO W. James McNerney Jr. said as he discussed the company's results with securities analysts.

In midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, 3M shares rose $2.34 to $106.86 a share.

3M's fourth-quarter earnings fell to $387 million, or 98 cents a share, from $447 million, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier.

The results included a $103 million pretax charge related to job cuts and accelerated depreciation and a $73 million pretax gain related to the Scotch tape maker's successful appeal in an antitrust case brought by LePage's, another tape-maker.

Excluding nonrecurring items, the Maplewood, Minn.-based company earned $381 million, or 96 cents a share, up 17 percent from $326 million, or 82 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The results beat the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call by a penny. 3M shares rose $2.48 to $107.00 on the New York Stock Exchange.

``Broad-based economic weakness continued to impact demand for 3M products in the fourth quarter,'' McNerney said.

However, McNerney said the company's actions to cut costs, reduce employment and improve productivity minimized the effects of the economic slowdown, trimming fourth-quarter expenses by $75 million, or about 7.5 percent, year-over-year.

Sales for the quarter totaled $3.86 billion, down from $4.14 billion a year earlier.

McNerney also announced that Patrick Campbell, 49, will join 3M as senior vice president and chief financial officer on Feb. 1. Most recently, Campbell has been vice president-finance for General Motors Europe.

Campbell will replace Robert Burgstahler, 57, who will become senior vice president in charge of business development and corporate services, overseeing strategic planning, merger and acquisition efforts and information technology.

For the full year, 3M earned $1.43 billion, or $3.58 per share, compared with $1.78 billion, or $4.45 per share, in 2000. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.74 billion, or $4.36 per share, down about 7 percent from the prior year.

Annual sales totaled $16.08 billion, down about 4 percent from 2000.

3M makes a wide range of products from Scotch tape and Post-it Notes to medical products and telecommunications equipment. The company has operations in more than 60 countries and serves customers in nearly 200 countries.