P&G's beauty, grooming segments see growth

CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble announced on Thursday that its beauty and grooming segments posted single-digit increases in net sales during the third quarter.

Beauty net sales rose 5% to $4.9 billion, on 5% volume growth. Organic volume, which excludes the net impact of Zest and minor fragrance divestitures, increased 6%, and organic sales grew 4%. The company noted that volume growth was driven by double-digit growth in developing regions, while volume in developed regions was flat.

Net earnings in the beauty segment decreased 3% to $547 million as lower operating margin more than offset the impact of sales growth.

In grooming, net sales rose 8% to $1.9 billion on a 2% increase in volume. Organic sales were up 7%. Price increases did add 5% to net sales growth behind blades and razors, and lower promotional activity in Latin America and across the developed regions.

Net earnings in the grooming segment increased 1% to $379 million driven by net sales growth and operating margin expansion, partially offset by a higher effective tax rate.

Net sales for the company rose 5% to $20.2 billion on 5% unit volume growth. Organic sales grew 4%. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were 96 cents, up 16% compared with the year-ago period.

"The growth fundamentals of our business are strong," stated Bob McDonald, P&G chairman, president and CEO. "We delivered broad-based volume, sales and market share growth, and grew EPS in a very difficult operating environment. We increased our dividend for the 55th consecutive year by 9%. We continue to advance our purpose-inspired growth strategy of improving the lives of more consumers in more parts of the world, more completely."