Diversified manufacturer 3M, St. Paul, MN, reported sales for the third quarter 2008 of $6.6 billion, up 6.2% from third quarter 2007. Profit was $991 million, versus $960 million in the prior-year period.
The company posted double-digit sales growth in its three largest businesses: Safety, Security and Protection Services, Health Care and Industrial and Transportation.
Segment trends were similar to the first half of 2008 with continued growth across the company’s international operations. 3M sales in Latin America increased 26% over last year, while Europe and Canada achieved 8% and 9% sales growth, respectively. Sales in Asia Pacific were down 1%, or up 13% excluding the impact of the transition underway in the company’s optical film business. …
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3M, St. Paul, MN, has acquired Polyfoam Products Inc., a structural adhesives company specializing in foam adhesives for tile roofing and other adhesive products for the building industry.
Polyfoam’s patented professional tile roofing system provides an alternative to mechanical fastening. The unique polyurethane adhesive locks tiles in place and eliminates the need for nails or screws to fasten tiles to the roof, which can leave thousands of tiny puncture holes, according to a 3M press release.
The addition of Polyfoam’s polyurethane foam formulations and polyurethane dispensing equipment will broaden 3M’s industrial adhesives portfolio and enhance our presence in the industrial and building and construction markets,”said Patrick Deconinck, vice president and …
St. Paul, MN-based 3M reported second-quarter sales of $6.7 billion, an increase of 9.7% over second quarter of 2007. Profit was $945 million, an increase of 3%.
Growth in sales was driven by improvement in international markets, which now account for two-thirds of 3M sales. 3M sales in Latin America increased 32% over last year, and Europe achieved 18% sales growth, while Canada grew by 14%. Sales in Asia Pacific improved by 1%, 17% excluding optical headwinds.
Local-currency sales including acquisitions increased 4.6%, with growth led by Safety, Security and Protection Services, 25.6%; Industrial and Transportation, 8.6%; Health Care, 7.7%; Consumer and Office, 3.5%; and Electro and Communications, 2.2%. Sales declined 18.8% in the Display and Graphics …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Ligacon AG, a Switzerland-based manufacturer and supplier of filtration systems and filter elements for the pharmaceutical, biotech and general industrial markets.
The acquisition of Ligacon will support 3M CUNO Filtration’s core business and expansion into key markets such as the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
3M CUNO Filtration manufactures and markets filtration solutions for separating, clarifying and purifying fluids and gases. 3M CUNO products serve the food and beverage, residential, leisure, industrial, healthcare and food service markets.
Ligacon employs 20 people at its headquarters in Tagelswangen, Switzerland.
3M manufactures thousands of products for diverse markets …
3M has agreed to acquire EMFI S.A. and SAPO S.A., manufacturers of polyurethane-based structural adhesives and sealants headquartered in Haguenau, France.
EMFI/SAPO’s adhesives and sealants complement 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division’s core industrial adhesives product line and provide access to the fast-growing polyurethane-based structural adhesives and sealants market segment. Polyurethane structural adhesives and sealants are used in building and infrastructure construction, wood floors, structural assembly, automotive aftermarket, truck, marine, specialty vehicle and rail assembly applications.
3M offers industrial tapes and adhesives for bonding, protecting, masking, enhancing, shielding, damping, splicing, reinforcing, color coding, case sealing …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has acquired K&H Surface Technologies Pty. Ltd., an Australia-based manufacturing company specializing in repair products for the professional and do-it-yourself automotive refinish markets.
K&H brings its surface preparation and auto retail products, body fillers and mold release agents to 3M’s full-line of auto body repair products for the automotive aftermarket, which includes products and brands from the 2007 acquisition of Bondo Corp.
3M’s Automotive Aftermarket Division products include abrasives and accessories, masking tapes, panel bonding adhesives, general adhesives coatings and sealers, paint finishing polishes and compounds, and paint application systems.
K&H Surface Technologies employs about 60 people at its …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to sell HighJump Software, a 3M company, to Battery Ventures, a technology venture capital and private equity firm. The transaction will result in a stand-alone company focused on providing supply chain solutions to a global customer base.
At Battery Ventures we are looking to acquire technology-based businesses in attractive markets that, through innovation and a strong product development history, have established market leadership,”said Dave Tabors, general partner, Battery Ventures.
Eden Prairie, MN-based HighJump Software employs 350 people globally.
With $24 billion in sales, diversified manufacturer 3M employs 75,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 60 …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to buy Quest Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of environmental monitoring equipment, including noise, heat stress and vibration monitors.
The move boosts 3M’s offering in safety products. Quest Technologies broadens our presence in the industrial hygiene and safety equipment markets by bringing its renowned sound monitoring technology to our strong offering of personal protective equipment,”said Julie Bushman, vice president and general manager, 3M Occupational Health and Environmental Safety Division.
Quest, an employee-owned company, employs 95 people at its headquarters in Oconomowoc, …
3M plans to build a new facility in Singapore to produce coatings for film-based products used in commercial, electronic and automotive applications. By establishing a local film coating center, the facility will help the company better serve the Asia market.
This investment brings us closer to our customers and creates a regional source of supply, which significantly simplifies our supply chain and helps us respond more quickly to our customers’needs in the fast-growing Asia market,”said Kevin Kuck, vice president, 3M film manufacturing.
Construction on the new facility, which will be located in the Tuas Industrial Park, will begin in the second quarter of this year and is expected to be completed in 2009. 3M operations already in Singapore include a customer …
3M Canada, a wholly-owned subsidiary of St. Paul, MN-based 3M, has acquired Les Entreprises Solumed Inc., a Quebec-based developer and marketer of medical products designed to prevent infections in operating rooms and hospitals.
Solumed brings a chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) and alcohol-based line of products to 3M’s offering for infection prevention. The addition of Solumed positions 3M for growth in the fast-growing segment of intravenous (IV) site care and in preoperative care and hand hygiene, where CHG-based products are gaining momentum,”said Chuck Kummeth, vice president and general manager, 3M Medical Division.
Solumed’s products such as antiseptic wipes and swabsticks, along with surgical scrub brush-sponges and antiseptic gels, complement 3M’s existing …
Dyneon LLC, a 3M company based in Oakdale, MN, has acquired Hitech Polymers Inc., a manufacturer of specialty thermoplastic polymers and provider of toll thermoplastic compounding services based in Hebron, KY.
Thermoplastics are used in the creation of a vast range of plastic components — from plastic bottles and molded parts to pumps and valves — for markets such as consumer, packaging, electronics, construction, and transportation.
Hitech Polymers brings to Dyneon capabilities in polymer blending, alloying, formulation, ingredient compatibility, and reactive polymer processing that are critical to the process for creating compounds that can be molded into a wide variety of plastic components.
Hitech Polymers employs approximately 15 …
3M, St. Paul, MN, reported 2007 sales of $24.5 billion, up 7% from a year ago. Profit was $4.1 billion, up 6%.
Sales for the full year were driven by a 7.3% increase in local-currency sales, including acquisitions. Growth was led by Health Care and Safety, Security and Protection Services. Sales in the international operations grew 10% and now constitute 63% of the company’s total.
The company announced fourth-quarter sales of $6.2 billion, an increase of 7%. Profit for the quarter was $851 …
At an institutional investor and analyst meeting in New York, 3M, St. Paul, MN, said it expects double-digit earnings growth in 2008.
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Sales are also expected to grow at double-digit rates, with organic local currency growth of 5 to 8% and acquisitions adding more than 3%.
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Our growth agenda is taking hold, with more of our businesses growing at accelerated rates,” CEO George Buckley said. “We have done much to bolster our growth capability in the past two years, and it is paying off.”
Buckley reaffirmed the company’s commitment to strengthening its traditional core businesses and franchises through investment in R & D, “tuck-in” acquisitions and supply chain optimization. He also expects growth in emerging economies, which has exceeded 19% …
Diversified manufacturer 3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Aearo Technologies Inc., Indianapolis, IN,  ; for $1.2 billion. Aearo is a supplier in the personal protection industry and manufactures and markets personal protection and energy absorbing products.
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Aearo is owned by funds advised by Permira, a global private equity firm, and company management.
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Aearo will significantly expand 3M’s occupational health and environmental safety platform by adding hearing protection as well as eyewear and fall protection product lines to 3M’s existing full-line of respiratory products.
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Aearo complements and significantly broadens our core safety and personal protection business, a space which is growing fast and of strategic importance to the …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Bondo Corp., a manufacturer of auto body repair products for the automotive aftermarket and various other professional and consumer applications.
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Bondo brand products include body filler, fiberglass repair materials, under coatings, and adhesives. Bondo products are sold to the auto body professional market through auto body paint specialty stores in addition to mass merchandisers and auto parts retailers.
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The addition of Bondo enhances our professional and retail auto body product lines,” said Ian Hardgrove, vice president and general manager, 3M Automotive Aftermarket Division.
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3M’s Automotive Aftermarket Division products include abrasives and accessories, masking tapes, panel bonding adhesives, …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has acquired Standard Abrasives, a manufacturer of coated abrasive specialties and non-woven abrasive products for the metalworking industry.
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With this acquisition we are joining two great abrasive companies and brands, both of us successful, and both of us with proud histories of innovation that are now coming together to drive towards a very bright future,” said Chris Holmes, vice president and general manager, 3M Abrasive Systems Division.
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Standard Abrasives employs 375 people and is headquartered in Simi Valley, CA. …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Unifam Sp. z o.o., a manufacturer of cut-off wheels, depressed center grinding wheels and flap discs based in Poland.
Unifam supplies conventional bonded wheels and flap discs used to cut and grind materials such as metallic sheet, rod, pipe and welds, for markets that include metalworking, shipbuilding, heavy equipment manufacturing and construction. Unifam currently produces products for 3M that feature 3M’s Cubitron Abrasive Grain.
Investing in a local company from the industrial sector expands our product portfolio and will allow us to better support our customers’growth in Europe and beyond,” said Jose Del Solar, managing director, 3M Poland.
Unifam employs approximately 95 people at its facility in …
3M, St. Paul, MN, reported third-quarter sales of $6.2 billion, an increase of 5.5%. Sales rose 9.4% adjusted for recently divested businesses, primarily the company’s branded pharmaceuticals business.
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Third-quarter profit was $960 million, versus $894 million, in the third quarter of 2006, up 7.4%.
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Local-currency sales including acquisitions increased 16.6% in Health Care ($961M in sales), 6.7% in Safety, Security and Protection Services, 5.4% in Industrial and Transportation ($1.8B), 4.3% in Electro and Communications ($714M), 3.5% in Consumer and Office ($898M), and 1% in Display and …
3M CEO George Buckley outlined to investors this week  ; how the diversified manufacturer wants to continue to rebuild and expand its core, especially adhesives, abrasives, tapes and films.
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Its continuing strategy, he said, is to advance its core businesses, grow through complementary acquisitions, build new business in adjacent markets and drive strong international expansion.
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I’m heartened by the way our growth strategy is taking hold and gaining momentum,” Buckley said. “We have increased R & D investment by 11% over 2006 and picked up the pace of new product introductions. In addition, we have made 15 complementary acquisitions this year.
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3M is expected to announce soon the acquisition of California-based rival Standard …
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Star-Tribune reports that 3M Co. has told its workers that it is acquiring Standard Abrasives, Simi Valley, CA, a “significant rival in the metal-abrasives industry.” 3M officials have confirmed the coming acquisition.
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According to its Web site, Standard Abrasives designs and manufactures coated abrasive specialties and BriteRite non-woven abrasives for high-speed deburring, grinding, polishing, finishing and cleaning applications on metal surfaces.
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3M abrasives brands are Scotch-Brite, Cubitron, and Trizact.
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Standard will join 3M’s industrial and transportation …
