Kimberly-Clark’s tissue sales surge 13%, suspends annual forecast

(Reuters) – Kimberly-Clark Corp on Wednesday suspended its forecast for the year and said sales of tissue rose 13% in the first quarter as consumers stocked up in preparation for the coronavirus pandemic.

“A combination of increased consumer demand for our products and strong execution by our teams is reflected in our first quarter results,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Hsu said in a statement.

Net sales for the three-months ended March 31 rose about 8% to $5.01 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $4.89 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru)