P&G’s Quarterly Profit Jumps

Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble announced that its quarterly profit jumped 37%. This was due to factors such as the addition of Gillette products to its lineup, price increases and cost cuts.

However, sales fell short of Wall Street’s target and P&G’s shares fell about 2% in premarket trading.

The manufacturer of consumer products earned $2.21 billion (63 cents per share) in its third quarter, up from $1.61 billion (59 cents) a year earlier.

In March, Procter said it expected to earn 59 to 61 cents per share in the quarter, including a hit of 7 to 10 cents from the acquisition of Gillette. The affect from the Gillette acquisition was 7 cents to 8 cents per share.

Also in March, P&G gave a cautious quarterly sales forecast, excluding the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign exchange. Those sales rose 6%.

P&G’s total net sales jumped 21% to $17.25 billion, while analysts had expected revenue of $17.52 billion.

Unit volume rose 22%; volume excluding acquisitions and divestitures rose 5%; and net sales rose in all of P&G’s existing businesses except for baby care and family care, where sales slipped 1% to $3.03 billion, including a 3% hit from foreign exchange. Net profit rose in all of the existing businesses.