The company reported fourth quarter net income of $511 million, or $1.29 per share, versus $381 million, or $0.96 per share in the fourth quarter of 2001. Excluding non-recurring items in the fourth quarter of 2001, net income increased 31.8 percent from $387 million in the year-earlier quarter. Required changes in goodwill accounting boosted earnings by 3 cents per share.

Worldwide sales in the fourth quarter totaled $4.138 billion, 7.3 percent higher than in the year-earlier quarter. Sales volumes increased by 6 percent.

Currency effects increased worldwide sales by 2 percent while selling prices decreased 0.7 percent globally.

Sales in the United States totaled $1.838 billion, up 1.8 percent from the same quarter of 2001. Volumes increased 2.2 percent, while selling prices decreased 0.4 percent.

Sales outside the United States totaled $2.3 billion, 12.2 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2001. Volumes increased 9.4 percent and changes in the value of the U.S. dollar increased international sales by 3.8 percent. Selling prices decreased 1 percent.

Sales for the calendar year totaled $16.332 billion, up 1.7 percent in U.S. dollars. Volumes improved 1.4 percent versus the prior year, and selling prices and currency effects increased 2002 sales by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

3M also provided its earnings outlook for 2003. For the year, the company expects earnings will be within a range of $5.80 to $6 per share, a double-digit increase over 2002. First-quarter earnings are expected to be between $1.38 and $1.43 per share. In the first quarter of 2002, the company earned $1.14 per share on a reported basis, which included non-recurring costs of $0.09 per share.