❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day, CFOs. In 2023, recreational boat and engine maker Brunswick Corp. scored its second highest annual revenue ever. Yet the company’s finance chief is somewhat subdued on what’s coming in 2024.

“With all the economics and things going on in the market, I wish I could tell you it felt better than it did,” Chief Financial Officer Ryan Gwillim said of last year’s revenue haul.

Brunswick, a leading maker of recreational power boats and marine engines in the U.S. and globally, this month reported revenue of $6.4 billion for 2023, coming in just behind the $6.8 billion peak set the prior year. The company ended 2023 with nearly $500 million in free cash flow, while its stock was up over 34%. It was a record year, Gwillim said, despite the uncertainties in the economy.

The company, which lowered its guidance for last year twice, is looking to control costs and refinance debt as the industry copes with softer demand and the lingering effects of inventory shortfalls. This year, Brunswick’s stock is down over 10%.

🗓️ Earnings

• Cisco Systems
• Kraft Heinz
• Occidental Petroleum
• Sony Group

Instacart is cutting about 250 employees, or roughly 7% of staff, as it focuses on profitability amid heated competition in the grocery-delivery business and rising food costs.

The layoffs are aimed at cutting back on money-losing projects while focusing on those that are generating returns.

Instacart said three executives, including its chief technology officer and chief operating officer, will leave the company for personal reasons. Instacart is the latest tech company to cut staff this year.

Last week, DocuSign said it would cut about 6% of its workforce and Snapchat parent Snap said it was slicing 10% of its staff.

• Layoffs in 2024: A List of Companies Cutting Jobs This Year

• Inflation eased again in January but came in above Wall Street’s expectations, clouding the Federal Reserve’s path to rate cuts and potentially giving the central bank breathing space to wait until the middle of the year.
• Stocks finished in the red Tuesday after data showed inflation didn’t ease as much as expected last month.
• Jeff Bezos has sold a stake valued at $2.08 billion in Amazon, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
• The Senate passed a $95.3 billion package backed by President Biden that contains a fresh round of aid for Ukraine and funds for Israel and Taiwan, overcoming Republican objections but facing an uncertain future in the GOP-run House.
• Microsoft’s new artificial-intelligence assistant for its bestselling software has been in the hands of testers for more than six months and their reviews are in: useful, but often doesn’t live up to its price.

📰 Other headlines

• Exclusive: Walmart in Talks to Buy TV Maker Vizio
• Russia Buying Musk’s Starlink Systems in Arab Countries, Ukraine Says
• Nearly Half of American Adults Are Unmarried. It Turns Out, That’s Good for Valentine’s Day
• The Six Months That Short-Circuited the Electric-Vehicle Revolution
• Scientists Resort to Once-Unthinkable Solutions to Cool the Planet

NRC Health, a Lincoln, Neb.-based provider of healthcare products and subscription-based solutions, said CFO Kevin Karas is retiring, effective March 31. The company also said it has promoted vice president of finance Linda Stacy as its principal accounting officer.

— Sabela Ojea contributed to this newsletter

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics ranging from corporate tax accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team is reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams-Alvarez, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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