P&G’s earnings Head & Shoulders above Wall Street’s expectations
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has racked up earnings of $1.95bn, or 69 cents a share, up from $521m in the same period a year ago.
Though revenue fell 2.8 per cent to $16.1bn it still managed to handily beat Wall Street’s average estimates of $15.83bn.
Sales growth in grooming and health care offset falls in beauty, fabric and home care, and baby, feminine and family care products.
P&G – the world’s largest consumer products maker – is currently in the middle of a cost cutting drive led by chief executive David Taylor, who has been holding the reigns of the company for less than a year.
P&G is hoping it will be able to trim costs by $10bn over the next five years, adding to savings already eked out by former CEO Alan Lafley.
“The fourth quarter was another period of progress driving P&G’s results to a balance of strong top-line growth, bottom-line growth and cash generation,” Taylor said in a statement. “We grew organic volume and sales in all reporting segments. We increased investments in innovation and advertising, funded by strong productivity improvement.”
Shares in P&G are up nearly 13 per cent over the course of the year, outpacing the Dow Jones industrial average, which is up around four per cent over the same period.