3M (NYSE:MMM) announced today that it experienced a -20% sales decline year-over-year for the month of May as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact business.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based company’s 20% dip brought sales down to $2.2 billion, with organic local-currency sales dropping -21%, although acquisitions and net of divestitures increased sales by 2%. Foreign currency translation reduced sales by -1%, according to a news release.
3M’s total sales dropped -11% in healthcare, -12% in consumer, -17% in safety & industrial and -30% in transportation and electronics. The total sales were hit hardest by a -26% drop in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, with a -21% overall decline in the Americas and a -15% dip in Asia Pacific.
This decrease across segments follows an announcement from 3M that its health care revenue was up 5% year-over-year for the month of April. 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. as demand grows during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, 3M reported total sales for April at $2.3 billion, dropping down 11% year-over-year, revealing a similar impact on overall business that was seen in May as well.
The company attributed some impact on its business to a 20-business-day month, compared to 22 business days last year, and noted that it has two additional business days in June 2020 compared to 2019. 3M will host its full second-quarter earnings call on July 28 at 8 a.m. CDT.