actions and exit activities in the fourth quarter of 2008. Including these net charges, operating income in the fourth quarter of 2009 increased 86 percent to $397 million and operating income margins improved by 8.5 percentage points to 20.8 percent.

 

Full-year 2009 sales were $7.1 billion, down 12.9 percent in dollars and down 10.2 percent in local currency. Foreign currency impacts penalized sales for the year by 2.7 percent. Sales increased in the renewable energy and automotive aftermarket businesses, but sales decreased in the other businesses, impacted by end-market declines. This segment announced restructuring actions in 2009, along with plant shut-downs, furloughs and mandatory vacation across the operation. In 2009, this business segment recorded charges of $88 million related to restructuring actions, with this charge comprised of employee-related liabilities for severance and benefits of $83 million and fixed asset impairments of $5 million. Including these special items, 2009 operating income was $1.2 billion and operating income margins were 17.4 percent. This segment recorded $66 million related to restructuring and exit activities in 2008.

 

Industrial and Transportation continued to invest aggressively to accelerate its growth capability. For example, the renewable energy business recently opened a new large-scale high-tech manufacturing site in Singapore, and the industrial abrasives business opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site in North America. Recently, 3M Purification Inc. launched a high-quality disposable filtration system for the biopharmaceuticals industry. And finally, the automotive aftermarket business introduced the 3M™ Dirt Trap Protection System, which increases paint booth productivity and reduces daily maintenance costs in auto body repair shops.

 

Fourth quarter and year 2008 results:

 

2008 can be characterized as a tale of two distinct chapters for Industrial and Transportation. The first was January through October, characterized by outstanding top-and bottom-line growth across most of the portfolio; the second chapter was the combined months of November and December, when many large customers slowed their operations.

 

Among 3M’s business segments, Industrial and Transportation has been among those most affected by recent economic contractions, particularly in big industries such as automotive and electronics. With worldwide industrial production in decline, 3M’s Industrial and Transportation business had fourth quarter 2008 sales of $1.7 billion, an 11.2 percent decline compared to 2007. Local-currency sales were down 6.4 percent, including a positive 3.1 percent impact from acquisitions. Not all divisions within Industrial were impacted equally in the fourth quarter. Those that are heavily linked to automotive manufacturing, namely automotive OEM and Dyneon LLC, saw declines of more than 20 percent, as did businesses selling to the electronics industry, such as high-tech tapes and adhesives. Most other divisions experienced local-currency sales contractions of less than 10 percent in the fourth quarter, with the exception of the automotive aftermarket business, which posted