WHR Whirlpool Corp

-- Fourth-quarter net sales decline of (18.7)% due to the Europe divestiture; organic net sales⁽¹⁾ growth of 1.9% driven by strong small domestic appliances and international businesses

-- Delivered approximately $300 million of net cost take out in 2024, as expected

-- Q4 GAAP net earnings margin (loss) of (9.5)%; GAAP earnings (loss) per diluted share of $(7.10) driven by the non-cash impact of Maytag brand impairment, GAAP tax rate of (44)%

-- Q4 Ongoing (non-GAAP) EBIT margin⁽²⁾ of 6.0%; ongoing earnings per diluted share⁽³⁾ of $4.57 supported by favorable adjusted (non-GAAP) effective tax rate of (54)%

-- 2025 outlook includes full-year GAAP earnings per diluted share of approximately $8.75, and ongoing earnings per diluted share⁽³⁾ of approximately $10.00; including GAAP and adjusted (non-GAAP) tax rate of 20 to 25%; cash provided by operating activities of approximately $1 billion and free cash flow⁽⁴⁾ of approximately $500 to $600 million

-- Intend to reduce ownership stake in Whirlpool of India Ltd. to ~20% in 2025 via market sale

-- Expect to pay down approximately $700 million of debt in 2025

BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Jan. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR), today reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial results.

"In 2024, we continued to make progress in our operations and delivered on our cost take out commitment of $300 million while achieving the closure of the Europe transaction, supporting our ongoing portfolio transformation," said Marc Bitzer. "In 2025, we expect to deliver more than $200 million of cost take out and position our business for the eventual U.S. housing recovery."
MARC BITZER, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

"We are proud of the actions we took to strengthen our balance sheet, paying down $500 million in debt and driving significant working capital efficiency," said Jim Peters. "In 2025, our clear capital allocation priorities along with the anticipated India transaction will maximize shareholder value and further strengthen our balance sheet."
JIM PETERS, CHIEF FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

SEGMENT REVIEW

MDA NORTH AMERICA

• Excluding currency, net sales decreased 1.2 percent year-over-year, and EBIT margin⁽⁵⁾ decreased year-over-year, driven by a sizeable trade inventory reduction coupled with strong sell through in the quarter, negatively impacting price/mix

MDA LATIN AMERICA

• Excluding currency, net sales increased 7.3 percent year-over-year, with strong industry demand in Brazil and Mexico
• EBIT margin⁽⁵⁾ increased year-over-year, driven by cost take out actions and fixed cost leverage

MDA ASIA

• Excluding currency, net sales increased 8.8 percent year-over-year, with increased volumes from share gains and industry growth
• EBIT margin⁽⁵⁾ increased year-over-year, driven by fixed cost leverage

SDA GLOBAL

• Excluding currency, net sales increased 6.4 percent year-over-year, driven by strong direct-to-consumer sales and new product launches
• EBIT margin⁽⁵⁾ decreased year-over-year, impacted by marketing investments in new product launches

FULL-YEAR 2025 OUTLOOK

• Expect full-year net sales of approximately $15.8 billion; approximately 3% growth on a like-for-like⁽⁶⁾ basis
• Expect to deliver more than $200 million of structural cost take out actions
• Expect full-year GAAP earnings per diluted share of approximately $8.75 and full-year ongoing earnings per diluted share⁽³⁾ of approximately $10.00
• Cash provided by operating activities of approximately $1 billion and free cash flow⁽⁴⁾ of $500 to $600 million
• Expect net cash proceeds of $550 to $600 million from the anticipated India transaction
• Our capital allocation priorities demonstrate our strong commitment to strengthen our balance sheet; expect approximately $700 million of debt pay down in 2025

ABOUT WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is a leading home appliance company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. As the last-remaining major U.S.-based manufacturer of kitchen and laundry appliances, the company is driving meaningful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, JennAir, Maytag, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, and InSinkErator. In 2024, the company reported approximately $17 billion in annual sales - close to 90% of which were in the Americas -  44,000 employees and 40 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com. 

WEBSITE DISCLOSURE

We routinely post important information for investors on our website, WhirlpoolCorp.com, in the "Investors" section. We also intend to update the "Hot Topics Q&A" portion of this webpage as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the "Investors" section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our webpage is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document.

WHIRLPOOL ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This document contains forward-looking statements about Whirlpool Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries ("Whirlpool") within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  Whirlpool intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and includes this statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor provisions. Any statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements regarding future financial results, long-term value creation goals, restructuring expectations, productivity, raw material prices and related costs, supply chain, portfolio transformation expectations, asset impairment, debt repayment expectations, India transaction timing and benefits expectations, trade customer inventory expectations, and the impact of housing recovery-related benefits on our operations are forward-looking statements and should be evaluated as such. Such statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "may," "could," "will," "should," "possible," "plan," "predict," "forecast," "potential," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "may impact," "on track," "margin lift," and similar words or expressions. Many risks, contingencies and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from Whirlpool's forward-looking statements. Among these factors are: (1) intense competition in the home appliance industry, and the impact of the changing retail environment, including direct-to-consumer sales; (2) Whirlpool's ability to maintain or increase sales to significant trade customers; (3) Whirlpool's ability to maintain its reputation and brand image; (4) the ability of Whirlpool to achieve its business objectives and successfully manage its strategic portfolio transformation; (5) Whirlpool's ability to understand consumer preferences and successfully develop new products; (6) Whirlpool's ability to obtain and protect intellectual property rights; (7) acquisition, divestiture, and investment-related risks, including risks associated with our past acquisitions; (8) the ability of suppliers of critical parts, components and manufacturing equipment to deliver sufficient quantities to Whirlpool in a timely and cost-effective manner; (9) risks related to our international operations; (10) Whirlpool's ability to respond to unanticipated social, political and/or economic events, including epidemics/pandemics; (11) information technology system and cloud failures, data security breaches, data privacy compliance, network disruptions, and cybersecurity attacks; (12) product liability and product recall costs; (13) Whirlpool's ability to attract, develop and retain executives and other qualified employees; (14) the impact of labor relations; (15) fluctuations in the cost of key materials (including steel, resins, and base metals) and components and the ability of Whirlpool to offset cost increases; (16) Whirlpool's ability to manage foreign currency fluctuations; (17) impacts from goodwill, intangible asset and/or inventory impairment charges; (18) health care cost trends, regulatory changes and variations between results and estimates that could increase future funding obligations for pension and postretirement benefit plans; (19) impacts from credit rating agency downgrades; (20) litigation, tax, and legal compliance risk and costs; (21) the effects and costs of governmental investigations or related actions by third parties; (22) changes in the legal and regulatory environment including environmental, health and safety regulations, data privacy, taxes and generative AI; (23) the impacts of changes in foreign trade policies, including tariffs; (24) Whirlpool's ability to respond to the impact of climate change and climate change or other environmental regulation; and (25) the uncertain global economy and changes in economic conditions. In addition, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our India transaction expectations include, among other things, failure or delays in launching transaction based on Board approval, market conditions or other factors, failure or delays in share settlement and closing, transaction proceeds being lower than expected, alternative uses for proceeds received, brand license valuation expectations not being met, and strategic, economic or industry expectations for India not being realized. Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in Whirlpool's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K. These cautionary statements should not be construed by you to be exhaustive and the forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION - CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
(Millions of dollars except per share data) (Unaudited)

We supplement the reporting of our financial information determined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with certain non-GAAP financial measures, some of which we refer to as "ongoing" measures. These measures may include earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), EBIT margin, ongoing EBIT, ongoing EBIT margin, ongoing earnings per diluted share, ongoing interest and sundry (income) expense, adjusted effective tax rate, organic net sales, net debt leverage (Net Debt/Ongoing EBITDA), return on invested capital (ROIC) and free cash flow.

Ongoing measures exclude items that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, results from our ongoing operations and provide a better baseline for analyzing trends in our underlying businesses.

Sales excluding foreign currency: Current period net sales translated in functional currency, to U.S. dollars using the applicable prior period's exchange rate compared to the applicable prior period net sales. Management believes that sales excluding foreign currency provides stockholders with a clearer basis to assess our results over time, excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations.
Organic net sales: Sales excluding the impact of certain acquisitions or divestitures, and foreign currency. Management believes that organic net sales provides stockholders with a clearer basis to assess our results over time, excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and certain acquisitions and/or divestitures.
Ongoing EBIT margin: Ongoing earnings before interest and taxes divided by net sales. Ongoing measures exclude items that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, results from our ongoing operations and provide a better baseline for analyzing trends in our underlying businesses.
Ongoing earnings per diluted share: Diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations, adjusted to exclude items that may not be indicative of, or are unrelated to, results from our ongoing operations. Ongoing measures provide a better baseline for analyzing trends in our underlying businesses.
Ongoing interest and sundry (income) expense: Reported interest and sundry (income) expense adjusted to exclude certain unique items. Management believes that ongoing interest and sundry (income) expense provides stockholders with a meaningful, consistent comparison of the Company's interest and sundry (income) expense, excluding the impact of certain unique items.
Ongoing equity method income (loss): Reported equity method income (loss) adjusted to exclude equity method investee restructuring charges. Management believes that ongoing equity method income (loss) provides stockholders with a meaningful, consistent comparison of the Company's equity method income (loss), excluding the impact of equity method investee restructuring charges.
Net debt leverage: Net debt to ongoing earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) ratio is net debt outstanding, including long-term debt, current maturities of long-term debt, and notes payable, less cash and cash equivalents, divided by ongoing EBITDA. Management believes that net debt leverage provides stockholders with a view of our ability to generate earnings sufficient to service our debt.
Return on invested capital: Ongoing EBIT after taxes divided by total invested capital, defined as total assets less non-interest bearing current liabilities (NIBCLS). NIBCLS is defined as current liabilities less current maturities of long-term debt and notes payable. This ROIC definition may differ from other companies' methods and therefore may not be comparable to those used by other companies. Management believes that ROIC provides stockholders with a view of capital efficiency, a key driver of stockholder value creation.
Adjusted effective tax rate: Effective tax rate, excluding pre-tax income and tax effect of certain unique items. Management believes that adjusted tax rate provides stockholders with a meaningful, consistent comparison of the Company's effective tax rate, excluding the pre-tax income and tax effect of certain unique items.
Free cash flow: Cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures. Management believes that free cash flow provides stockholders with a relevant measure of liquidity and a useful basis for assessing the Company's ability to fund its activities and obligations.

Whirlpool does not provide a non-GAAP reconciliation for its forward-looking long-term value creation goals, such as organic net sales, EBIT, free cash flow conversion, free cash flow benefit as a result of Europe transaction closing, ROIC and net debt leverage, as these long-term management goals are not annual guidance, and the reconciliation of these long-term measures would rely on market factors and certain other conditions and assumptions that are outside of the Company's control.

We believe that these non-GAAP measures provide meaningful information to assist investors and stockholders in understanding our financial results and assessing our prospects for future performance, and reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of our operations that, when viewed with our GAAP financial measures, provide a more complete understanding of our business. Because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, it may not be possible to compare these financial measures with other companies' non-GAAP financial measures having the same or similar names. These ongoing financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for reported net earnings available to Whirlpool per diluted share, net earnings, net earnings available to Whirlpool, net earnings margin, return on assets, net sales, effective tax rate and cash provided by (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

We also disclose segment EBIT as an important financial metric used by the Company's Chief Operating Decision Maker to evaluate performance and allocate resources in accordance with ASC 280 - Segment Reporting.

GAAP net earnings available to Whirlpool per basic or diluted share (as applicable) and ongoing earnings per diluted share are presented net of tax, while individual adjustments in each reconciliation are presented on a pre-tax basis; the income tax impact line item aggregates the tax impact for these adjustments. The tax impact of individual line item adjustments may not foot precisely to the aggregate income tax impact amount, as each line item adjustment may include non-taxable components. Historical quarterly earnings per share amounts are presented based on a normalized tax rate adjustment to reconcile quarterly tax rates to full-year tax rate expectations. We strongly encourage investors and stockholders to review our financial statements and publicly-filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.

FOURTH-QUARTER 2024 ONGOING EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND TAXES AND ONGOING EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures ongoing earnings before interest and taxes and ongoing earnings per diluted share, with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool and net earnings (loss) per diluted share available to Whirlpool, for the three months ended December 31, 2024. Net earnings (loss) margin is calculated by dividing net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool by net sales. Ongoing EBIT margin is calculated by dividing ongoing EBIT by net sales. EBIT margin is calculated by dividing EBIT by net sales. The earnings per diluted share GAAP measure and ongoing measure are presented net of tax, while each adjustment is presented on a pre-tax basis. Our fourth-quarter GAAP tax rate was (43.6)%. The aggregate income tax impact of the taxable components of each adjustment is presented in the income tax impact line item at our fourth-quarter adjusted tax rate (non-GAAP) of (53.8)%.

FOURTH-QUARTER 2023 ONGOING EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND TAXES AND ONGOING EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures ongoing earnings before interest and taxes and ongoing earnings per diluted share, with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool and net earnings (loss) per diluted share available to Whirlpool, for the three months ended December 31, 2023. Net earnings (loss) margin is calculated by dividing net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool by net sales. Ongoing EBIT margin is calculated by dividing ongoing EBIT by net sales. EBIT margin is calculated by dividing EBIT by net sales. The earnings per diluted share GAAP measure and ongoing measure are presented net of tax, while each adjustment is presented on a pre-tax basis. Our fourth-quarter GAAP tax rate was (58.6)%. The aggregate income tax impact of the taxable components of each adjustment is presented in the income tax impact line item at our fourth-quarter adjusted tax rate (non-GAAP) of (19.0)%.

FULL-YEAR 2024 ONGOING EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND TAXES AND ONGOING EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures ongoing earnings before interest and taxes and ongoing earnings per diluted share, with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool and net earnings (loss) per diluted share available to Whirlpool, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024. Net earnings (loss) margin is calculated by dividing net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool by net sales. Ongoing EBIT margin is calculated by dividing ongoing EBIT by net sales. EBIT margin is calculated by dividing EBIT by net sales. The earnings per diluted share GAAP measure and ongoing measure are presented net of tax, while each adjustment is presented on a pre-tax basis. Our full-year GAAP tax rate was (43.6)%. The aggregate income tax impact of the taxable components of each adjustment is presented in the income tax impact line item at our full-year adjusted tax (non-GAAP) rate of (28.6)%.

FULL-YEAR 2023 ONGOING EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND TAXES AND ONGOING EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE 

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures ongoing earnings before interest and taxes and ongoing earnings per diluted share, with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool and net earnings (loss) per diluted share available to Whirlpool, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. Net earnings (loss) margin is calculated by dividing net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool by net sales. Ongoing EBIT margin is calculated by dividing ongoing EBIT by net sales. EBIT margin is calculated by dividing EBIT by net sales. The earnings per diluted share GAAP measure and ongoing measure are presented net of tax, while each adjustment is presented on a pre-tax basis. Our full-year GAAP tax rate was 13.0%. The aggregate income tax impact of the taxable components of each adjustment is presented in the income tax impact line item at our full-year adjusted tax (non-GAAP) rate of (6.7)%.

FULL-YEAR 2025 OUTLOOK FOR ONGOING EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND TAXES AND ONGOING EARNINGS PER DILUTED SHARE 

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures ongoing earnings before interest and taxes and ongoing earnings per diluted share, with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, net earnings available to Whirlpool and net earnings per diluted share available to Whirlpool, for the twelve months ending December 31, 2025. Net earnings margin is calculated by dividing net earnings available to Whirlpool by net sales. Ongoing EBIT margin is calculated by dividing ongoing EBIT by net sales. EBIT margin is calculated by dividing EBIT by net sales. The earnings per diluted share GAAP measure and ongoing measure are presented net of tax, while each adjustment is presented on a pre-tax basis. Our anticipated full-year GAAP tax rate is approximately 20 - 25%. The aggregate income tax impact of the taxable components of each adjustment is presented in the income tax impact line item at our anticipated full-year adjusted tax (non-GAAP) rate of 20 - 25%.

ONGOING EBIT EXCLUDING MDA EUROPE FIRST QUARTER AND JULY THROUGH DECEMBER INDIA

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the impact of removing Q1 MDA Europe and July through December India from our net sales and ongoing EBIT, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 for the Whirlpool business. Please see elsewhere in this Supplemental Information section for a reconciliation of Ongoing EBIT to GAAP reported net earnings (loss) available to Whirlpool. 

FREE CASH FLOW

Free cash flow is cash provided by (used in) operating activities after capital expenditures. The reconciliation provided below reconciles twelve months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 and 2025 full-year free cash flow with cash provided by (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. Free cash flow as a percentage of net sales is calculated by dividing free cash flow by net sales.

ORGANIC NET SALES

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measure organic net sales to GAAP reported net sales, for twelve months ended December 31, 2023 and 2024 for the Whirlpool business.

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measure organic net sales to GAAP reported net sales, for three months ended December 31, 2023 and 2024 for the Whirlpool business.

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measure organic net sales to GAAP reported net sales, for three months ended September 30, 2023 and 2024 for the Whirlpool business.

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measure organic net sales to GAAP reported net sales, for three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2024 for the Whirlpool business.

The reconciliation provided below reconciles the non-GAAP financial measure organic net sales to GAAP reported net sales, for three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2024 for the Whirlpool business.

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SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation