KMB Kimberly Clark Corp

By Serena Ng And Chelsey Dulaney 

American consumers' frugal streak is showing few signs of fading.

Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, Wednesday reported higher North American sales volumes, thanks in large part to promotional activities and coupons that drew more shoppers to its brands.

Chief Executive Tom Falk said shoppers responded well to digital coupons and price promotions on bulk purchases of items like paper towels and facial tissue. "If you have more paper towels and tissues in your pantry you're likely to consume more," he said.

The Dallas-based company's overall third-quarter sales fell 7% to $4.7 billion, mainly the result of many foreign currencies weakening against the U.S. dollar. But the decline was less than Wall Street analysts forecast, and Kimberly-Clark's organic sales, which exclude acquisitions, divestments and the impact of currency moves, grew 5% on the back of growth from emerging markets and North America.

The results helped send Kimberly-Clark shares up 1% to $118.19 in late Wednesday trading. So far this year, the stock is up 2.3%.

Currency swings, however, are likely to reduce the company's bottom line by as much as 25% this year, a bigger hit than previously anticipated, Chief Financial Officer Maria Henry said. For the third quarter, Kimberly-Clark reported an 8% decline in net profit to $517 million, while over the first nine months of 2015 profit was down 58% from a year ago to $680 million.

In the baby diaper business, Huggies has been trying over the past year to claw back U.S. market share it lost last year to its chief rival, Pampers, made by Procter & Gamble Co. Third-quarter sales volumes of Huggies diapers rose in low double-digit terms following the relaunch this year of the brand's mainline Snug and Dry diapers at slightly lower prices.

Mr. Falk said Huggies's share has improved modestly by about 1 percentage point in the year to date, but Kimberly-Clark in the recent quarter shipped higher volumes of diapers to retailers who wanted to stock more merchandise after some of their stores ran out.

The company also sold more Kleenex during the recent back-to-school shopping season, thanks to the brand's popularity on school-supply lists distributed by teachers across the U.S.

Through the first nine months of 2015, Kimberly-Clark's sales were up 4.5% organically. The company narrowed its full-year organic sales growth forecast to between 4% and 5%, from a previous range of between 3% and 5%.

The company also sees currency declines cutting between 10% and 11% off sales for the year, compared with its previous guidance for a 10% impact.

Write to Serena Ng at serena.ng@wsj.com and Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2015 16:11 ET (20:11 GMT)

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