Maytag Reports Loss, May Sell Hoover Unit

Appliance maker Maytag Corp., which has agreed to be acquired by larger rival Whirlpool Corp., said Friday that it had a wider fourth-quarter loss and that it might sell its underperforming Hoover vacuum unit and commercial businesses.

Sales at the Hoover floor-care products unit, which has dragged down profitability at Maytag in recent years, fell 20% in the fourth quarter.

“We can no longer carry the burden of this underperforming product line,” Maytag Chief Executive Ralph Hake said.

He added that selling Hoover would allow the company to focus on controlling costs in the core appliance operation.

A Maytag spokesman said the company was “at the very beginning of this” when asked whether possible buyers for the businesses had emerged.

The Newton, Iowa-based company, which also makes Amana and Jenn-Air appliances, said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $75 million, or 93 cents a share, from $14 million, or 18 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding restructuring charges and other one-time items, the loss was 31 cents a share, much deeper than the 13 cents expected by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 6.6% to $1.24 billion.

Higher sales of refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers offset a 1% decline in sales of commercial products, which include Dixie-Narco vending machines and the Jade commercial appliance line.

Shares of Maytag fell 51 cents to $17.51.