3M Co., parent company of Top 40 supplier 3M/Promotional Markets (asi/91240), announced that in the third quarter its sales remained flat year-over-year at $7.7 billion. The company downgraded its full-year outlook for the second time, now expecting revenue to be flat for the year rather than the previous growth estimate up to 1%. The company also narrowed its 2016 earnings per share to $8.15-$8.20 from $8.15-$8.30, owing to negative impact overseas from the strong U.S. dollar.

The company’s third-quarter earnings of $2.15 per share represented a 4.9% increase compared to a year ago, which the company attributed to heightened margins. Organic local currency sales declined 0.3%. 3M grew its operating income by 0.4 percentage points, while net income was $1.3 billion.

“Our third quarter was marked by increased earnings, robust cash flow and a strong, broad-based margin performance – with each of our business groups posting margins of 22% or greater,” said Inge G. Thulin, 3M’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “At the same time, we continued to execute on business transformation while taking several actions to strengthen and focus our portfolio. We were also pleased to celebrate our company’s 100th consecutive year of paying dividends, which we’ve increased for each of the last 58 years.”

Sales in the company’s Safety and Graphics group grew by 2.2% (and 2% in organic local currency sales) for a total of $1.4 billion in the quarter. The company’s Health Care group grew 1.1% overall and its Industrial group increased 1% overall while its Electronics and Energy group fell by 7.5%.

3M did not report its promotional product revenue for the quarter. In the recently released Counselor Top 40 rankings, 3M/Promotional Markets ranked as the 15th largest supplier with estimated North American promotional product revenue of $99 million.