2014 Annual Report

Message from the Vice Chairmen — A New Platform for Growth

GROWTH IN EMEA

Marc R. Bitzer
Vice Chairman

Our innovative products, margin expansion and growth opportunities in the emerging Middle East, African and Eastern European countries position our Whirlpool EMEA business for ongoing value creation as the region’s economy recovers. We also have distinct advantages with the acquisition of the Indesit Company, allowing us to double our scale with minimal overlap. Indesit’s winning country, product and brand portfolio are extremely complementary to ours, helping us to increase our business — quickly.

We expect the integration to deliver at least $350 million in benefits by 2017. We will create synergies through procurement and our product and operating platforms, but our real opportunity is to increase our country coverage while offering complementary brands and products to consumers throughout the EMEA region.

Another key advantage of this acquisition is enhanced product leadership. Indesit has strength in combination washer/dryers, front-load washers, cooking ranges and a number of refrigerator platforms. Whirlpool is the leader in built-in cooking, microwave ovens, top-load washers, refrigeration and small appliances. When you combine these businesses and add our global product innovation abilities, you have a very strong product leadership story throughout Europe. We already have new product in the pipeline ready to launch.

In addition to product leadership, we also possess a well-rounded brand portfolio with KitchenAid and Scholtès brands in the super premium position, Hotpoint-Ariston, Whirlpool and Bauknecht brands in the mass premium segment, and Indesit as our value brand.

Geographic growth is another significant strength. We are now No.1 in five countries: Russia, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Poland. With these country positions and the increased distribution, we have the scale to further strengthen all our brands and expand each brand’s segment share.

In 2015, we will work through the integration in Europe, making progress on the synergies in procurement and operations, while taking advantage of our newly increased scale and enhanced product leadership. In addition, we will look to opportunities in Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, where there is a large population with low appliance penetration. I am confident 2015 will be a year of significant growth throughout the region.

Marc R. Bitzer
Vice Chairman

GROWTH IN ASIA

Michael A. Todman
Vice Chairman

There are tremendous growth opportunities for Whirlpool Corporation in the Asia region, in particular in India and China. Our presence in India is already strong; therefore we are building on this by offering consumers at all economic levels new, innovative products that deliver to their needs and desires.

The acquisition of Hefei Sanyo allows us to quadruple our platform in China by bringing increased distribution, new manufacturing and service centers, and reaching more consumers in the market. We see the incredible opportunity in both markets because each has a growing middle-class population, many of whom are first-time buyers of appliances looking for new, innovative products that give them a better quality of life.

Hefei Sanyo is a healthy company that has consistently delivered strong operating margins. They have produced primarily washers and recently added refrigerators and microwave ovens and are entering into other product categories. They have a strong manufacturing base with three factories and have ample capacity to enable growth. Hefei Sanyo has more than 30,000 distribution outlets across China in both rural  areas and major cities, which is more than 10 times the outlets Whirlpool had previously. Their brands are known and trusted in China and are complementary to  the Whirlpool brand, and since the acquisition we have already launched our first wave of new product offerings into the market.

Finally, yet very importantly, Hefei Sanyo has a proven strong and capable management team that is eager to be a part of the Whirlpool team. These strong attributes, coupled with Whirlpool’s global technology, global footprint and management experience creates a very strong platform for profitable growth in China.

We are excited about our potential for growth in Asia and in 2015 we will begin to take advantage of this opportunity. The addition of Hefei Sanyo, continued investments in product innovation, expansion into new categories, continued increase in the distribution of our products and brands while leveraging our global scale and product platforms, gives us confidence in our ability to grow in Asia.

Michael A. Todman
Vice Chairman