US: Procter & Gamble sales miss as it exits brands | Progresiv
Procter & Gamble Co. reported a decline in sales, even when stripping out the impact of currency fluctuations. Shares of P&G, down 10% over the past year, rose 1.7% to 76.10 dollars in premarket trading as the company reported better-than-expected earnings on lower costs. 
The world's largest consumer products company is struggling to accelerate growth after years of underperformance relative to rivals. P&G is in the process of exiting close to 100 brands to focus on 65 core brands, such as Tide and Pampers.
In its fiscal first quarter, the Cincinnati company said organic sales growth--a closely watched metric that strips out currency moves, acquisitions and divestments--fell 1%.
The metric was hurt by declines or flat organic sales across all of its segments. P&G logged a 2% decline in organic sales in its beauty segment, a 1% decline in its health-care segment, and a 3% decline in its baby, feminine and family care segment.
Overall, P&G reported a profit of 2.61 billion dollars, up from 1.99 billion dollars a year earlier. Revenue fell 12% to $16.53 billion, hurt in part by currency fluctuations.
In the past year, some big brands like Tide laundry detergent and Oral-B toothpaste sold well, but others like Olay skin creams continued to struggle, and P&G's operations in some overseas markets lost ground. (www.marketwatch.com)
