3M achieves record first-quarter results in 2012

3M has published its financial report for the first quarter of 2012, during which it achieved its best ever sales performance.

The company's quarterly revenues grew by 2.4 percent compared to Q1 2011 to $7.5 billion (4.62 billion pounds), while earnings rose by 6.7 percent and operating margins came to 21.8 percent.

Within its healthcare division, sales rose across the majority of its businesses, led by a double-digit rise in health information systems.

The firm has expressed confidence that its continuing investments in innovation, commercialisation and manufacturing will allow it to maintain its strong growth across the rest of the year.

Inge Thulin, 3M president and chief executive officer, said: "We are off to a very good start in 2012 with record first-quarter sales and strong earnings. 3M employees everywhere did an outstanding job of managing in a challenging environment for growth."

Earlier this month, the company agreed to acquire the Maryland-based informatics company CodeRyte, building on an existing partnership commenced in 2009.