Whirlpool Corp.owner of the home appliance brands Maytag and Amanais cutting about 1,000 salaried positions globally to reduce costs, as the slow home sales in the United States limits demand.
The company has completed its first wave of office staff layoffs and is planning to start another soon, the chief financial officer said. Jim Peters In an interview. Earlier this year, the company announced it was cutting jobs without specifying how many. Whirlpool It employed 59,000 workers worldwide at the end of 2023.
The actions of Whirlpool They fell as much as 9.6% in Thursday trading, the biggest drop since October. The company’s shares have declined 13% in the year through Wednesday, while the index S&P Midcap 400 has gained 4.3% in the period.
“The discretionary side that is driven by existing home sales hasn’t really seen any recovery or benefit yet.”said Petersreferring to the weak demand in USA “We are simplifying our structure”he added.
The company based in Benton Harbor, Michiganis trying to reduce expenses by around USD 400 million this year, but this is proving more difficult than expected due to higher labor, transportation and logistics costs. “We have seen that inflation remains persistent”said Peters.
Sales of large appliances in North America fell 8.1% in the first quarter compared to the previous year, announced Whirlpool on Wednesday. Income were from USD 4.49 billion in the period, a decrease of 3.4% and below the average estimated by analysts.
The low sales of existing homes in the United States have eroded demand for new refrigerators and washing machines. However, Whirlpool is seeing signs that Americans may be choosing to remodel their homes rather than buy new ones.
“We are starting to see some positive signs” Regarding remodeling, he said Petersadding that some homeowners are using their home equity to finance renovations.
Whirlpool has reduced discounts and promotions, while shifting toward smaller appliances, such as KitchenAid stand mixers and battery powered blendersto compensate for the weak demand for large appliances. It is also entering a new category by introducing fully automatic espresso machines. The company indicates that these smaller items are more profitable.
