Procter & Gamble tops view, sees stronger sales

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | January 28 2010 9:32 AM

Procter & Gamble Co posted a better-than-expected profit, as promotional price cuts and increased advertising helped bring more shoppers back to its brands. It added that sales should rise more than expected this year.

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The world's largest household products maker has been working to attract shoppers who had shunned its name brands such as Pampers diapers and Bounty paper towels for cheaper store versions as the recession took hold.

Profit was $4.66 billion, or $1.49 per share, in the fiscal second quarter ended December 31, down from $5 billion, or $1.58 per share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected P&G to earn $1.42 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of P&G were up 19 cents to $61 in premarket trade.

Sales rose 6.4 percent to $21.03 billion, while the volume of goods sold rose 5 percent. Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures, also rose 5 percent.

P&G still expects to earn $4.02 to $4.12 per share in the current fiscal year, which ends in June. It now expects organic sales to rise 3 to 5 percent this year, up from its prior forecast of 2 to 4 percent.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl; Editing by Derek Caney)