What Are The Factors Behind A Slow Lower Single-Digit Growth In Kimberly-Clark’s Revenue?

Kimberly-Clark’s (NYSE: KMB) revenue has grown from $18.2 billion in 2016 to $18.49 billion in 2018, on the back of steady growth in emerging markets, and a rise in selling prices. However, adverse foreign currency fluctuations and a lack of growth in the personal care segment, have weighed down revenue, with growth of only 0.5-1% YoY in the last 2 years.
We expect to see similar growth going forward, with revenue to grow to $18.66 billion by 2020.

Takeaway

• Kimberly-Clark’s Personal Care segment, which primarily sells baby care and feminine care products, is expected to contribute $8.97 billion to total revenue in 2019, making up 49% of KMB’s total revenue estimate.
• The Consumer Tissue division is expected to bring in $6.03 billion in 2019, to make up 33% of the total revenue estimate.
• The expected $460 million of revenue growth for Kimberly-Clark between 2016 and 2020, will be driven primarily by a $320 million growth in the KC Professional segment.
• Kimberly-Clark’s total revenue has grown by around 1.5% between 2016 and 2018, and we expect a further 1% growth in revenue by 2020.
• In our interactive dashboard Kimberly-Clark Revenue: How Does Kimberly-Clark Make Money?, we discuss KMB’s business model, followed by sections that review past performance and 2020 expectations for KMB’s revenue, including comparisons with close competitors, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.

A look at Kimberly-Clark’s segments and their contribution to total revenue

(A) Personal Care revenue to remain roughly flat over the next 2 years, making up 49% of total revenue

• Personal care revenue has seen no change over the past 2 years, going from $9.07 billion in 2016 to $9.06 billion in 2017.
• Amidst foreign currency headwinds and growing competition in emergency markets, we don’t see this metric growing over the next 2 years.
• We expect revenue from this segment to come in at $8.97 billion in 2019 and $9.06 billion in 2020.

(B) Consumer Tissue Revenue to grow by $90 million over the next 2 years to make up 33% of 2020’s total revenue estimate

• Consumer Tissue revenue has grown marginally from $5.98 billion in 2016 to $6.03 billion in 2018.
• A major part of the revenue from this segment comes from North America, and we expect the same going forward.
• We expect this metric to grow to $6.12 billion by 2020.

(C) KC Professional revenue expected to grow by around $90 million over the next 2 years, to make up the remaining 18% of total revenue in 2020

• This segment has added around $230 million between 2016 and 2018, making up almost 80% of the $290 million revenue growth over the same period.
• We expect revenue from this segment to keep growing, reaching around $3.48 billion by 2020.

What’s behind Trefis? See How it’s Powering New Collaboration and What-Ifs

For CFOs and Finance Teams | Product, R&D, and Marketing Teams

More Trefis Data

Like our charts? Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own.