P&G Posts Strongest Sales Growth in Five Years -- Update
October 19 2018 - 8:36AM
Dow Jones News
By Aisha Al-Muslim
Procter & Gamble Co. reported its strongest quarterly sales
growth in five years, driven by gains in the beauty segment, as the
consumer-products giant snapped a stretch of lackluster growth.
The maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors said organic
sales, a closely watched metric that strips out currency moves,
acquisitions and divestitures, rose 4% in the fiscal first
quarter
Beauty products fueled the gains, rising 7%, but the company
reported growth across a number of categories including grooming,
health care and fabric.
The Cincinnati-based company has struggled to boost sales in an
industry facing more competition and higher costs of raw materials
and transportation.
After more than a year of trying to combat weak demand by
lowering prices, P&G recently changed course, saying it would
charge more for its Pampers, Bounty, Charmin and Puffs brands. The
increases, which the company said would go into effect later this
year or in early 2019, have the potential to more broadly influence
pricing and demand given P&G's size and clout. P&G said
prices was neutral during the quarter.
Consumer-products makers got a boost this week when Unilever PLC
and Nestlé SA said inflation in many markets allowed them to charge
more for their products, fueling stronger sales for those companies
in the latest quarter. Many consumer-goods makers in recent
quarters have struggled to raise prices amid weak inflation, but
commodity-price increases and a stronger U.S. dollar have changed
that.
P&G said profit rose 12% to $3.2 billion, or $1.22 cents a
share, in the first quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Net sales rose
0.2% to $16.69 billion from $16.65 billion, but unfavorable
foreign-exchange fluctuations hurt sales by 3%.
Shares rose 4.4% to $83.80 in premarket trading Friday. Shares
are down 12.4% in the past year.
Write to Aisha Al-Muslim at aisha.al-muslim@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2018 08:21 ET (12:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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