According to Whirlpool, industry-wide unit shipments of major appliances declined 9.5 percent during the first quarter.

Whirlpool first-quarter 2007 net sales increased 24 percent year over year. However, excluding the impact from the Maytag acquisition and currency translations, net sales rose only 2 percent.

"As expected, higher material costs and significantly lower demand in the United States negatively impacted our first-quarter results," said Jeff M. Fettig, chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool Corporation. The global environment is progressing as planned and we continue to expect lower industry demand in the United States through the first half of 2007 with gradual improvement during the balance of the year."

According to Whirlpool, industry-wide unit shipments of major appliances declined 9.5 percent during the first quarter. Based on current economic conditions, the company continues to expect 2007 U.S. industry unit shipments to decline approximately 2 percent to 3 percent.

"It has been slightly more than one year since we acquired Maytag Corporation," said Fettig. "During this time period, we have successfully completed the most critical portions of our integration plans, divested several businesses, executed plans to revitalize Maytag's product offering and significantly reduced our post-acquisition debt. We remain well positioned to realize efficiencies in excess of $400 million by 2008."