St. Paul, MN, Sept. 30--3M's organic growth rates have been picking up steam in recent months, helping the company to partially offset challenges presented by some of its more economically sensitive businesses, the company's chief executive said Tuesday.
W. James McNerney, speaking to investors and analysts at a company-sponsored conference in St. Paul, MN, said the company "is getting close" to the bottom end of its goal to achieve annual organic growth rates of between 5% to 8%.
"We've got the entire team focused on organic growth and we're beginning to see things start to happen," McNerney said. "The momentum is strong."
McNerney's comments opened the first day of a two-day conference. Several other executives are expected to provide updates about their divisions beginning 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
McNerney said the company, known for its Post-It Notes and Scotch Tape, continues to squeeze results out of the five improvement initiatives it launched three years ago. For example, the company has extracted about $800 million in indirect costs during that period. Separately, 3M has trained more than 20,000 employees in the Six Sigma quality improvement training program, he said.
3M Chief Financial Officer Patrick Campbell said the company is "on track" to deliver earnings-per-share growth of between 12% and 14% for 2004, including pension expense pressures. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expect the company to earn $3.01 for 2003, compared with $2.63 a share last year. Analysts also expect 3M to earn $3.36 in 2004.
Campbell said the company is targeting capital spending of between $700 million and $750 million for 2003 and about $900 million for 2004.
3M plans to report its third-quarter earnings Oct. 20.
