Whirlpool 2011 Annual Report Download - page 37

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FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The following is a summary of Whirlpool Corporation’s
financial condition and results of operations for 2011, 2010
and 2009. For a more complete understanding of our finan-
cial condition and results, this summary should be read
together with Whirlpool Corporation’s Consolidated Finan-
cial Statements and related notes, and “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis.” This information appears in the
Financial Supplement to the Company’s Proxy Statement
and in the Financial Supplement to the 2011 Annual Report
on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, both of which are also available on the com-
pany’s website at www.whirlpoolcorp.com.
ABOUT WHIRLPOOL
Whirlpool Corporation (“Whirlpool”) is the world’s leading
manufacturer of major home appliances with revenues
of approximately $19 billion and net earnings available to
Whirlpool of $390 million in 2011. We are a leading producer
of major home appliances in North America and Latin
America and have a significant presence in markets
throughout Europe and India. We have received worldwide
recognition for accomplishments in a variety of business
and social efforts, including leadership, diversity, innovative
product design, business ethics, social responsibility and
community involvement. We conduct our business through
four reportable segments, which we define based on geog-
raphy. Our reportable segments consist of North America,
Latin America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and
Asia. Our customer base includes large, sophisticated trade
customers who have many choices and demand competitive
products, services and prices. The charts below summarize
the balance of net sales by reportable segment for 2011,
2010 and 2009, respectively:
We monitor country-specific economic factors such as
gross domestic product, unemployment, consumer confi-
dence, retail trends, housing starts and completions, sales
of existing homes and mortgage interest rates as key indi-
cators of industry demand. In addition to profitability, we
also focus on country, brand, product and channel sales
when assessing and forecasting financial results.
Our leading portfolio of brands includes:
Whirlpool, Maytag,
KitchenAid, Brastemp
and Consul, each of which has
annual revenues in excess of $1 billion. Our global branded
consumer products strategy is to introduce innovative new
products, increase brand customer loyalty, expand our
presence in foreign markets, enhance our trade manage-
ment platform, improve total cost and quality by expanding
and leveraging our global operating platform and, where
appropriate, make strategic acquisitions and investments.
As we grow revenues in our core products, our strategy is
to extend our business by offering products and services
that are dependent on and related to our core business
and expand into adjacent products, such as
Gladiator
GarageWorks, through stand-alone businesses that lever-
age our core competencies and business infrastructure.
2011 OVERVIEW
Whirlpool and the home appliance industry as a whole
continued to face significant macroeconomic challenges
across much of the world in 2011, including recessionary
demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in
emerging markets, high levels of inflation in material costs
and volatility in foreign currencies. To be successful in
this period of uncertain economic growth and consumer
demand, we have taken aggressive actions to expand our
operating margins and improve our earnings. These actions
include implementation of our previously announced cost-
based price increases, continued investment in new prod-
uct innovation, execution of announced cost and capacity
reductions, continued productivity improvements and legal
actions taken to promote fair trade within the industry.
During 2011, we settled a long-standing collection dispute
with Banco Safra S.A. and an antitrust investigation by the
European Commission into the refrigeration compressor
industry. While these settlements negatively impacted our
2011 results, they have removed significant uncertainty and
financial risk by bringing closure to these items.
Sales by Region
200920102011
Europe,
Middle East,
Africa
19%
Europe,
Middle East,
Africa
17%
North
America
55%
North
America
53%
Latin
America
22%
Latin
America
25%
Asia
5% Asia
8%
Asia
4%
Europe,
Middle East,
Africa
17%
North
America
51%
Latin
America
27%
Asia
5%