KMB Kimberly Clark Corp

By Austen Hufford 

Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s revenue slid in the fourth quarter as currency volatility continued to affect results and it took a multimillion-dollar write-down of its Venezuelan business.

The maker of Huggies diapers, Kleenex tissue and Scott toilet paper also said it expects adjusted full-year earnings per share of between $5.95 and $6.15 and revenue to land between a decline 3% to flat. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected $6.14 in earnings per share and flat revenue.

Excluding currency rates, Kimberly-Clark expects organic sales to be up 3% to 5%. Analysts see revenue up 1%. In the third quarter, organic sales--which exclude acquisitions, divestments and the effect of currency moves--grew 5% as it notched gains in both adult and baby diapers.

In all, Kimberly-Clark reported a profit of $333 million, or 91 cents a share, up from a loss of $83 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding special items and the Venezuelan accounting change, per-share earnings fell a penny to $1.42 from $1.43 a year earlier.

Sales fell 6% to $4.54 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast $1.43 a share in earnings on $4.57 billion in revenue.

In the U.S., Kimberly-Clark has struggled recently to claw back market share in Huggies diapers, which have lost ground to Procter & Gamble Co.'s Pampers and Luvs brands. Volumes on Huggies diapers rose mid-single digits.

The company's adult-incontinence products, sold under the Depend and Poise brands, also have been under assault from P&G, which re-entered the incontinence business in mid-2014. Volumes increased double-digits from both market share gains and category expansion.

In the latest quarter, sales at Kimberly Clark's personal-care segment, which includes both baby and adult diapers, slid 4.4% to $2.2 billion, as a 12% currency impact offset 6% volume growth.

Sales at the consumer-tissue segment, which includes Cottonelle and Kleenex, fell 6.2% to $1.5 billion. A currency impact of 9% offset 4% volume growth.

Shares of the company, which have risen 4.5% in the last three months, fell 2.6% in light premarket trading.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2016 09:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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