3M Company (NYSE:MMM) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Deane Dray: That’s helpful. And how about the corporate line?

Monish Patolawala: Yes. So as with previous years, Deane, there are a number of miscellaneous items at corporate and unallocated that are subject to fluctuation on a quarterly and annual basis. So if you answer specifically your question, if you look at for the year, corporate and unallocated was $44 million and on a — and in the fourth quarter, it was a benefit of $121 million. The Q4 benefit was largely the result of annual incentive compensation accrual for the first nine months that has now been allocated back to the business segments based on final performance. This adjustment had no impact to total company margins because it’s a move from corporate and unallocated to the business segment. And then for the full year 2024, we expect the expense range to be in the range of $100 million to $200 million on an adjusted basis.

Deane Dray: Great. I appreciate that. And just one last follow-up for me, Mike. You talked about the goals for ’24 related to PFAS to advance the ramp down. Would there — from what you see today, would there be any circumstances where 3M would continue to produce PFAS after 2025? Or is this just a non-negotiable? And will you dismantle the equipment? Or can it be repurposed?

Mike Roman: Yes, Deane, we’re committed to that what we announced to exit PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025. And as I said, we’re making good progress to that. We’re working to help customers transition. We will — I think we talked about this on one of our earnings calls, we will not sell the equipment, we won’t transfer any of the assets. We won’t sell the business. We won’t license our intellectual property. So we are going to exit and complete by the end of 2025. That’s everybody’s focused on that goal.

Operator: That concludes the question-and-answer portion of our conference call. I will now turn the call back over to Mike Roman for some closing comments.

Mike Roman: To wrap up, we are executing our priorities and delivering on our commitments. We will stay focused on continuing to improve our performance, optimize our portfolio and reduce risk, while using 3M science to create unique solutions for our customers. Thank you for joining us.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.