By Jessica DiNapoli and Juveria Tabassum
(Reuters) -Procter & Gamble on Friday beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue and profit, helped by strong demand for its beauty and hair-care products amid higher prices and a broader slowdown in spending due to economic uncertainties.
The Tide maker, a bellwether for the global consumer goods industry, reduced its annual tariff cost estimate to about $400 million after tax, from about $800 million forecast in July, largely on Canada lifting retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday terminated all trade talks with Canada. The Canadian government had no immediate comment.
P&G CFO Andre Schulten said on a media call that “beyond the headlines, we have no information that would have any impact on how we view our tariff exposure at this point in time.”
The company’s shares were up about 4% in premarket trading. They have fallen about 9% so far this year.
The results from P&G, whose CEO Jon Moeller will be replaced by another company veteran Shailesh Jejurikar on January 1, echo those from rival and Dove parent Unilever, which on Thursday disclosed double-digit sales growth from beauty brands in the U.S.
P&G has raised some prices in the U.S. to help mitigate the impact from tariffs, with the Cincinnati-based company banking on demand for its portfolio of products such as Dawn dish soap and Pampers diapers at a time when discretionary spending remains muted.
It lowered prices in Canada after retaliatory tariffs were canceled.
Despite the price hikes, the company’s operating margins fell 50 basis points from a year earlier.
CHINA SHINES ON PREMIUM PUSH
The company is also turning to its fine-tuned strategy of introducing improved products at higher prices, with sales growing in the grooming segment, helped by pricing and volumes.
Sales volumes in the beauty segment, which houses brands such as Pantene shampoo and the Olay brand, rose 4% in the three months ended September, compared with a 1% increase in the prior quarter. Prices in the business were up by about 1% sequentially.
A P&G spokesperson said while underlying market conditions in China were still challenging, with a low level of consumer confidence, the company still managed to report double-digit growth in categories such as baby care, helped by demand for its premium Bum Bum diapers in the country.
Still, overall volumes across the company remained flat as consumers, particularly from lower-income households, have continued to stretch their budgets as higher-priced items hit store shelves.
The results kept the company on track to deliver within its annual targets, which it retained on Friday, “in a challenging consumer and geopolitical environment,” Moeller said in a statement.
The company’s quarterly revenue grew 3% to $22.39 billion, edging past estimates of a 2% growth to $22.17 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Gross margins fell for the third straight quarter, but core earnings per share of $1.99 beat estimates by 9 cents, as higher prices helped offset pressures from the tariffs.
A volatile spending environment globally has also forced the company to pull out of some product segments in certain markets.
The company was exiting the laundry bars business in India and the Philippines, and has closed manufacturing to shift to a distribution model in Pakistan, a company spokesperson told Reuters.
(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
