Earnings Report

3M said Thursday its profits fell nearly 4 percent in the first three months of the year as it pulls out of the cassette-tape making business and sheds its data storage and imaging operation.

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. also said U.S., Asian and Latin American growth offset weaker European sales.

3M earned $362 million, or 87 cents per share, compared with $376 million, or 90 cents per share, a year ago.

Not counting the $21 million earned a year ago by the businesses that 3M is discontinuing, the company’s profits would have risen 2 percent.