P&G tops estimates on higher prices

Procter & Gamble on Friday beat analysts' estimates for quarterly sales and profit buoyed by the consumer goods giant's multiple price hikes even as it joined other multinational companies in flagging weak demand in China, reports Reuters.

A slower-than-expected rebound in China following the lifting of pandemic curbs has been a drag on global firms including L'Oreal and Coca-Cola that were facing slowing demand in many parts of the world.

Overall volumes fell 1 per cent in the fourth quarter, in part due to soft demand in Greater China, while average prices across P&G's product categories rose 7 per cent.

In contrast, China, the company's second-biggest market after the US, had helped moderate volume declines in the third quarter.

CI Roosevelt's Senior Portfolio Manager Jason Benowitz said the China business would remain a swing factor for P&G in fiscal 2024 as the current macroeconomic backdrop "makes business results more difficult to forecast than is typical for this consumer staples company."