The Sherwin-Williams Company announced its financial results for the year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023.All comparisons are to the full year and fourth quarter of the prior year, unless otherwise noted.
According to the report:
"Sherwin-Williams delivered solid fourth quarter results, with positive sales growth and significant year-over-year gross margin improvement," said President and Chief Executive Officer, Heidi G Petz."We continued our accelerated growth investments in the quarter, which we are confident will continue to drive profitable above-market growth in future periods. Sales in all three reportable segments were within or better than our guidance. In our architectural businesses, commercial and residential repaint were the strongest performers, while DIY remained challenging. In our industrial businesses, growth varied by division and region, reflecting ongoing choppiness in the market. Paint Stores Group and Performance Coatings Group segment margins expanded year over year."For the full year, sales grew to a record $23.05 billion, gross margin expanded to 46.7% (which is well within our current targeted range) and adjusted diluted net income per share increased 18.% to a record $10.35 per share. We generated strong net operating cash in the year, which enabled us to continue to invest in customer-focused innovation, while returning $2.06 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. From a segment perspective, Paint Stores Group overcame a difficult demand environment characterised by challenging conditions in new residential and existing home-sales markets to deliver high single-digit percentage growth against a low-teens comparison, while also expanding its segment margin. Consumer Brands Group faced weak DIY demand but grew in its targeted Pros Who Paint market and completed the divestiture of non-core aerosol product lines and its China architectural business. Performance Coatings Group generated sales growth in a market that was highly variable by region and business, further integrated recent acquisitions and delivered strong adjusted segment margin."
