Brooke Sutherland, Columnist

3M Sticks Together Like Scotch Tape

The company is proof that a conglomerate structure can work if it's managed well.

January 25, 2018 at 4:26 PM UTC

Brooke Sutherland is Bloomberg News' Boston bureau chief and writes the Industrial Strength Newsletter. She was previously a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies and an M&A reporter for Bloomberg News.

1516900209_319495527_1-5 — Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

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You'd hardly know it from a scan of industrial news these days, but not all conglomerates are bad. Case in point, 3M Co.

The maker of everything from Post-it notes to dental varnish reported fourth-quarter and annual earnings on Thursday that exceeded analysts' estimates, after backing out a charge related to the recently passed U.S. tax legislation. Organic revenue climbed 5.2 percent for the full year, as sales rose at every single one of 3M's businesses and in each of its geographic areas. That's remarkable, particularly a day after General Electric Co. -- generally a hot mess these days -- said its revenue excluding the impact of currency and M&A was flat last year as declines at certain parts of its industrial mishmash overwhelmed good news elsewhere.