The makers of Huggies and Kleenex today reported a 10.5 percent increase in sales for the three months ending December 31, taking sales for the quarter to $4.8bn.
The weak dollar, which is aiding US-based manufacturers in international markets, helped push sales up but organic growth was nonetheless strong at 6 percent.
Sales in the personal care division, which accounts for around a third of total sales, drove overall growth increasing 16.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
Operating profit rose 9.5 percent to $668.9m reflecting the sales growth but net profit fell 5.5 percent because of costs related to the implementation of the company's cost reduction plan.
Kimberly-Clark committed to the plan in 2005, which sees it streamlining manufacturing and administrative operations in Europe and North America.
The company expects the move to bear fruit in the coming years of at least $350m by 2009.
Meanwhile, for the full year sales increased 9.1 percent to $18.3bn while operating profit rose 24.5 percent to $2.6bn.
Reflecting on Kimberly Clark's performance during 2007, CEO Thomas Falk said: "For the year, better than expected top-line growth contributed to solid improvement in adjusted operating profit and earnings per share.
"I was also pleased with our fourth quarter performance overall and with the sustained excellent results in personal care and developing and emerging markets in particular."
Personal care sales in developing markets were indeed particularly strong rising by nearly 25 percent with South Korea, China, Russia and much of Latin America leading the way.
With regards to the future, Kimberly-Clark expects organic sales to increase by between 4 and 6 percent in 2008 and net sales to rise by between 5 and 7 percent.
Adjusted operating profit is forecast to increase by between 5 and 8 percent although the company expects cost inflation to be in the region of $400m due to higher fiber, polymer resin and other raw material price rises.
Strategic marketing spend is also planned to increase at a faster rate than sales to support new product launches and improve overall brand recognition.
