3M recently announced its results for the first quarter of 2022. Sales reached $8.8 billion, a decrease of 0.3% compared to the 2021 quarter. Organic sales in the 2022 first quarter increased 2% year-on-year.
“In a challenging global environment, 3M delivered a strong start to 2022 with solid growth, operating margins, and robust cash generation,” said Mike Roman, chairman and CEO. “In response to feedback from our shareholders and to provide additional clarity on the strength of our underlying business performance, starting in the first quarter we are reporting adjusted earnings to exclude costs for significant litigation. These included, as we communicated on March 30th, the announced additional investment related to Zwijndrecht, which resulted in a 26-cent charge, along with costs related to other significant litigation of 13-cents in the first quarter. Excluding the Zwijndrecht investment our financial outlook for 2022 remains unchanged.