Whirlpool Corp on Wednesday posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its full-year earnings outlook, citing a sales drop triggered by its pending acquisition of a Chinese rival.The U.S. appliance maker said its sales in China plummeted 80 percent last quarter as retailers in that country, anticipating its pending merger with Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Co and the new line the merged entity will produce, stopped buying Whirlpool-branded products."Trade partners are liquidating their old inventory and getting ready for the new inventory, which will come from the combined company," Whirlpool CEO Jeff Fettig told Reuters in an interview.Whirlpool and Hefei Sanyo can't officially merge until Chinese regulators sign off on the deal -- a process that Fettig said is taking longer than anyone expected and may drag on through the end of 2014.
Whirlpool Corporation (Whirlpool) is a manufacturer and marketer of home appliances. Shares of WHR fell by 0.07% or $-0.105/share to $143.10. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $124.39 and as high as $160.01. On average, 989506 shares of WHR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 4743410.
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