Is 3M Stock Halal?

June 11, 2021

Table of Contents

How does 3M earn its revenue?

3M earns its revenue from the following revenue sources:

Safety and Industrial:

Includes industrial and structural adhesives, personal protective equipment such as safety glasses and noise-canceling headphones for construction, abrasives, roofing granules, and surgical masks and respirators.

3M also offers auto body repair solutions and electrical products and materials for construction.

Transportation and Electronics:

Includes display materials and systems, attachment tapes, sunlight control films for windows, sound and temperature management solutions for vehicles, electronic assembly solutions, and reflective signs for highway and vehicle safety.

Health Care:

Includes food safety indicator solutions, health care procedure coding and reimbursement software, skin lesion and infection prevention solutions, dentistry and orthodontic solutions, and filtration and purification systems.

Consumer:

Consists of bandages, braces, cleaning products, paint accessories, mounting adhesives for picture frames, and auto care products.

The contributions from each of 3M’s revenue segments in 3M’s 2020 annual report were as follows:

From the aforementioned, Practical Islamic Finance finds none of 3M’s revenue to come from anything inherently haram.

Does 3M rely on interest to operate?

According to the company’s annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 (Numbers in thousands, U.S. dollars):

Interest Expense: $529,000

Interest Income: $29,000

Revenue: $32,184,000

Total Expenses: $25,412,000

Interest Expense / Total Expense: 2.08%

Interest Income / Revenue: 0.09%

From the aforementioned, Practical Islamic Finance finds interest (riba) used but not relied upon in 3M’s operations.

What is 3M’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impact?

Environment:

3M developed an innovative rain collection system at their San Luis Potosí site, which is in a water-scarce region, and captured 640 cubic meters of rainwater according to 3M’s 2021 annual sustainability report.

In 2020, 3M’s packaging reduction efforts resulted in a decrease of more than 514 metric tons of packing materials.

Social:

3M has a high Glassdoor rating of 4.0 out of 5.0 from over 4,000 current and previous employees compared to a 3.3 average for all other Glassdoor rated companies.

Governance:

During the Covid-19 crisis, 3M donated $10 million to Direct Relief’s Covid-19 Fund for Community health.

In addition, 3M donated 6,000 powered air-purifying respirators.

From the aforementioned, Practical Islamic Finance finds 3M to have a substantially positive ESG impact.