[LOGO]Whirlpool
Corporation
NORTH AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN MARKET CONDITIONS CHANGE
WHIRLPOOL'S PERFORMANCE OUTLOOK
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. - Aug. 30, 2000 - Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR)
said today that its third quarter and full-year earnings will be negatively
affected by Circuit City's recently announced decision to exit the major
appliance business, the associated competitive pricing pressures in its North
American market and an increasingly challenging appliance industry environment
in its European market.
The company now expects its third-quarter earnings to be between 95 cents
and $1.05 per diluted share, while fourth-quarter earnings are currently
expected to be between $1.45 and $1.55 per diluted share.
Following the Circuit City announcement, approximately five weeks ago, the
company's ongoing analysis indicates that it will lose between 90 and 120 days
of previously expected shipments to Circuit City, as they liquidate their
inventories and other appliance retailers pick up the consumer demand. This
one-time loss of an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 units -- along with the
associated effects of adjusting manufacturing production levels and the impact
of corresponding competitive pricing dynamics -- are currently expected to
reduce the company's earnings by 40 to 55 cents per diluted share in the third
quarter.
Additionally, the company indicated that the European appliance industry
environment is becoming more challenging. The company is seeing varied and
volatile levels of consumer demand on a market by market basis, pricing
pressures are becoming more evident, material costs continue to rise and the
strength of the dollar is expected to reduce both revenue and earnings
translations. These European business conditions are currently expected to
reduce company earnings by 20 to 25 cents per diluted share in the second half
of the year.
"We believe that consumer demand for our brands combined with significant
growth commitments from the nation's top appliance retailers will allow us to
more than replace the business we were doing with Circuit City," said Jeff M.
Fettig, Whirlpool President and COO. "We are also aggressively addressing the
competitive pricing issues we face in North America and Europe, and we expect to
return to more normal revenue and earnings trends during the fourth quarter."
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Whirlpool Performance Expectation - add one
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"We are confident that the other brand-building initiatives we have
underway, including several high-impact new product introductions, combined with
accelerated productivity improvements from the Operational Excellence program
will allow us to deliver improving performance in the second half of the year
and enter 2001 with good momentum," added Fettig.
At 9:00 a.m. (EDT) today the company will be hosting a conference call,
which can be heard live on the Internet by visiting www.WhirlpoolCorp.com and
clicking on the "Investors" button and then the "Conference Call Audio" menu
item.
Whirlpool Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of
major home appliances. Headquartered in Benton Harbor, the company manufactures
in 13 countries and markets products under 11 major brand names in more than 170
countries. Additional information about the company can be found on the
Internet at www.WhirlpoolCorp.com.
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Media Financial
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Christopher Wyse Thomas Filstrup
616-923-3417 616-923-3189
christopher_j_wyse@email.whirlpool.com thomas_c_filstrup@email.whirlpool.com
This news release contains forward-looking statements, as that term is defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to the
expected appliance industry results for 2000 noted in this news release, there
are certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those
anticipated by some of the statements made. These factors are listed in the
Company's most recently filed Form 10-Q and/or Form 10-K.