3M (NYSE:MMM) today reported sales information from April revealing that the company’s health care revenue is up 5% amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M reported total sales for the month at $2.3 billion, dropping down 11% year-over-year. The company’s organic local-currency sales declined by 12%.
The bump up in sales for the company’s health care segment likely stems from 3M’s N95 respirator masks, which have experienced increased demand during the pandemic. Last month, the U.S. Defense Dept. awarded a $76 million contract to 3M under the Defense Production Act (DPA) and the company announced two more DoD contracts last week.
Since January, 3M has doubled its global output of respirators to 1.1 billion per year, with 35 million N95 masks produced per month in the U.S. The company said as of last week that it has invested more than $80 million in increasing production since the COVID-19 outbreak began in January. 3M expects to double its current capacity again to produce 2 billion respirators around the world by the end of the year.
Depsite the growth in health care revenues, consumer sales dropped 5%, safety and industrial was down 11% and transportation and electronics plummeted by 20% during April. Total sales in the Americas were down 13%, with a 12% drop in Europe, the Middle East & Africa combined and a 5% drop in Asia Pacific.
“April sales results were largely in line with month-to-date trends we discussed during our first-quarter earnings call,” 3M chairman & CEO Mike Roman said in a news release. “We remain focused on ensuring the health and safety of our employees, delivering for our customers and increasing production of much-needed respirators as we fight this pandemic from all angles.”
