3M profit falls on charges, weakening demand

3M profit falls on charges, weakening demand

(Reuters) -U.S. industrial conglomerate 3M Co on Tuesday reported a fall in quarterly profit, as its move to stop production of “forever chemicals” saddled the company with charges while softening consumer demand further hit its bottom-line.

Last month, the Post-it maker set a 2025 deadline to stop producing PFAS (perfluoralkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances), or the “forever chemicals”, used across products from cell phones to semiconductors.

The St. Paul, Minnesota-based company reported a profit of 98 cents per share for the fourth quarter, down from $2.31 per share, a year earlier.

3M said profit includes a $1.15 per share pre-tax charge related to PFAS manufacturing exit costs. Sales in the quarter fell 6% to $8.1 billion.

Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $2.28 per share compared to $2.45 per share a year earlier.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in BengaluruEditing by Vinay Dwivedi)

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