James W. Peters
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Whirlpool
Thanks, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Now turning to our full-year 2022 guidance on Slide 13. 2022 will be another year where we will face a difficult operating environment, including COVID and supply chain disruptions that we now face in the first quarter. However, consumer demand remains robust, driven by nesting trends and a strong replacement cycle. We are uniquely positioned to capture these structural drivers of demand and can operate in any environment. It is with confidence that we provide our 2022 guidance, which reflects significant top line growth and a fifth consecutive year of record earnings per share. In line with our long-term value creation goals, we expect to drive net sales growth of 5% to 6%. Additionally, we expect to deliver EBIT margins of approximately 10.5% and $1.5 billion in free cash flow. This represents a full-year EPS range of $27 to $29.
Turning to Slide 14, we show the drivers of our full-year ongoing EBIT margin guidance. We expect price mix to expand margins by 600 basis points from the following three drivers. One, carryover pricing actions from 2021. Two, recently announced cost base price increases in the U.S., Europe and India, which will be fully in place in the second quarter. Three, the continued positive trends in mix we have seen is consumers nest at home and the impact of new product launches. Next, we expect net cost takeout to negatively impact margins by only 50 basis points with increased logistics and labor costs, partially offset by ongoing cost productivity measures.
We expect our business to be negatively impacted by $1 billion to $1.25 billion in raw material inflation, led by higher steel and resin costs. As we already began to realize a significant cost increase in the latter portion of 2021, the largest year-over-year impact is expected during the first half of the year, particularly in Q1. On a full-year basis, inflation is fully offset by our price mix actions.
Next, as we continue to invest in our business, we expect increased investments of 50 basis points in marketing and technology. Unfavorable currency, primarily in Latin America is expected to impact margins by 25 basis points. As inflationary pressures will not heavily impact our first quarter and our recently announced cost base pricing actions will be fully implemented in the second quarter, we expect to deliver 40% to 45% of our earnings in the first half of the year. We are confident that we have the right actions in place to again navigate a supply constrained and inflationary environment and deliver approximately 10.5% EBIT margin. Restructuring costs will be reduced in 2022, and moving forward, we will only exclude restructuring actions greater than $50 million from our ongoing results.
Turning to Slide 15, we show our regional guidance for the year. Starting with industry demand, we expect a continued robust demand environment for North America, supported by broader home nesting trends and under-supplied housing market and a strong replacement cycle. In EMEA, we expect modest growth of 0% to 2%. And in Latin America, we expect the contraction of 2% to 4% as the region experiences slowing demand and increased macroeconomic uncertainty. Asia industry is expected to accelerate by 5% to 6%, as the region continues to rebound from COVID related shutdowns in 2021.
Regarding our EBIT guidance, we expect very strong margins of approximately 16% in North America. We expect the benefits of our previously announced cost base pricing actions to largely offset inflation and operational inefficiencies associated with producing in a heavily constrained environment. In EMEA, we expect to continue to execute upon our positive turnaround strategy, including accelerated built-in growth and share gains, driving EBIT margins of approximately 3%. In Latin America, we expect to deliver EBIT margins of approximately 8% as positive price mix is offset by inflation and continued currency devaluation. Lastly, we expect to achieve EBIT margins of approximately 8% in Asia, driven by topline growth and our strategic divestment actions in 2021.
Turning to Slide 16, we will discuss the drivers of our 2022 free cash flow. We expect strong cash earnings of approximately $2.5 billion, driven by topline growth and improved EBIT margins. We plan to increase capital investments by $175 million as we continue to invest in our products and fund organic growth. These investments include unlocking capacity constraints, launching innovative products and furthering our digital transformation journey. We are planning for a moderate inventory build as we begin to recover our inventory position, particularly in the United States. We anticipate minimal cash outlays related to restructuring or post integration activities as these have largely been completed. Overall, we expect to deliver free cash flow of $1.5 billion or approximately 6.5% of sales. We expect some asset sales in 2022. However, moving forward, we will no longer report adjusted free cash flow. Free cash flow will be defined as cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures.
Now on Slide 17, I'll turn it over to Marc to discuss how we are structurally positioned to fund our growth while delivering shareholder returns.