By Rob Curran

Kimberly-Clark's first-quarter net income and sales fell due to divestitures and lower prices, but the consumer-products giant warned of rising costs due to likely tariffs.

The Dallas maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers logged first-quarter earnings of $567 million, or $1.70 a share, down from $647 million, or $1.91 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, Kimberly Clark logged earnings of $1.93 a share, outpacing the average analyst target of $1.90 a share, as per FactSet.

Sales fell 6% to $4.84 billion, shy of the mean analyst estimate of $4.89 billion, according to FactSet. Organic sales, excluding the impact of divestitures, fell 1.6% in the U.S., as price cuts offset steady volumes. U.S. consumers have seen some price relief in grocery and general-merchandise stores, but Kimberly-Clark anticipates more price pressures ahead.

"The current environment will now mean greater costs across our global supply chain versus our expectations at the beginning of the year," Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Hsu said in a statement. "However, we remain confident in our ability to offset these costs over time and unlock our long-term potential."

The recent weakening in the U.S. dollar may help U.S.-based multinational exporters. For 2025, Kimberly-Clark expects sales to reflect a negative impact of about 200 basis points from currency translation, down from a previous 300-basis-point estimate. The company still expects a negative 240-basis-point impact from a combination of its personal-protective equipment divestiture and the exit of its private-label diaper business in the U.S.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 22, 2025 07:37 ET (11:37 GMT)

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