St. Paul, MN-based 3M reported 2008 sales of $25.3 billion, up 3.3% from a year ago. Profit for 2008 was $3.5 billion, down 14.6%.
 
Fourth-quarter sales were $5.5 billion, a decrease of 11.2% from the same period a year ago. Profit was $536 million, a decrease of 37%.
 
3M drove record sales in 2008 despite a dramatic fourth-quarter economic downturn, said George W. Buckley, 3M president and CEO, “We are responding to lower demand with aggressive cost management and operational discipline. We streamlined our operations throughout 2008 and we will continue to optimize to protect against the downside throughout 2009. In addition, we plan to reduce capital expenditures by about 30 percent and aggressively attack working capital in order to …