Procter & Gamble set to report tepid revenue growth
By Jessica DiNapoli and Ananya Mariam Rajesh
NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) -Procter & Gamble PG.N is set to report muted quarterly revenue growth on Friday. The purveyor of Tide detergent, Dawn dish soap and Pampers diapers faces rivals competing on price in its two biggest markets, the United States and China.
Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten said on Sept. 5 at an investor conference the consumer products company's first quarter, which ended Sept. 30, would "not look materially different" from the prior quarter. In its fourth quarter ended June 30, sales were flat and organic sales rose 2%. Organic sales do not count the impacts of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures.
The Cincinnati-based company, considered a bellwether for American consumers broadly, is seeing a slowdown in growth in its biggest market, the United States. P&G executives have said it offers products for nearly every price point and across retailers, from Walmart WMT.N to Costco COST.O.
Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, which has a stake in P&G, said the company has not reduced prices in recent months, leading to "weaker demand and slowing sales."
P&G also has expanded its distribution to dollar stores such as Dollar Tree DLTR.O to broaden its market share among low-income Americans earning less than $35,000 per year. But many are paring back their spending or turning to retailers' own-brand private-label products.
P&G is "giving a huge opening to a lot of private label, like (Costco's) Kirkland Signature and Vons, to really get embedded into households and improve over time," said Michael Schulman, chief investment officer at P&G investor Running Point Capital. Supermarket operator Albertsons ACI.N owns Vons, a grocery chain with locations in California and Nevada.
"I think they're missing out on lower-income consumers. And what they risk there is huge," Schulman added.
Christian Greiner, senior portfolio manager at F/m Investments, which holds P&G shares, said P&G would have to lower prices by discounting in order to significantly boost U.S. volumes, a move that could hurt its profitability.
P&G's first-quarter net sales are expected to rise 0.35% to $21.95 billion, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. The company is expected to post quarterly adjusted profit per share of $1.90, compared to the $1.83 it reported a year earlier.
P&G has forecast fiscal year 2025 all-in sales to grow 2% to 4% and core profit per share to be between $6.91 and $7.05.
"I'm not expecting any great shakes from them" on Friday, Schulman said.
According to NielsenIQ data in a research note from Bernstein, P&G's overall market share has been roughly flat the past two months, as has its share in fabric and home care, its biggest business. Unilever ULVR.L, which makes rival products including Persil detergent, isoverhauling the supply chain for its home care business in Europe, and plans to boost its own promotions in the category.
In P&G's second biggest market, China, many shoppers are rejecting its pricey SK-II face serums. Weak consumer spending in China overall makes any U.S. revenue growth increasingly important, said Michelle Li, an analyst at Parnassus Investments.
CEO Jon Moeller said at the company's annual meeting on Oct. 8 that tensions in the Middle East have had an impact on P&G's business. Pro-Palestinian activists have called for consumers to boycott the company because of its connections to Israel. The company has offices in Tel Aviv and says its products such as Pantene shampoo are in 98% of Israeli households.
Unit growth at consumer goods companies in 2024 https://reut.rs/3Y6hVYP
Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese
Actifs liés
Dernières actualités
Avertissement : Les entités de XM Group proposent à notre plateforme de trading en ligne un service d'exécution uniquement, autorisant une personne à consulter et/ou à utiliser le contenu disponible sur ou via le site internet, qui n'a pas pour but de modifier ou d'élargir cette situation. De tels accès et utilisation sont toujours soumis aux : (i) Conditions générales ; (ii) Avertissements sur les risques et (iii) Avertissement complet. Un tel contenu n'est par conséquent fourni que pour information générale. En particulier, sachez que les contenus de notre plateforme de trading en ligne ne sont ni une sollicitation ni une offre de participation à toute transaction sur les marchés financiers. Le trading sur les marchés financiers implique un niveau significatif de risques pour votre capital.
Tout le matériel publié dans notre Centre de trading en ligne est destiné à des fins de formation / d'information uniquement et ne contient pas – et ne doit pas être considéré comme contenant – des conseils et recommandations en matière de finance, de fiscalité des investissements ou de trading, ou un enregistrement de nos prix de trading ou une offre, une sollicitation, une transaction à propos de tout instrument financier ou bien des promotions financières non sollicitées à votre égard.
Tout contenu tiers, de même que le contenu préparé par XM, tels que les opinions, actualités, études, analyses, prix, autres informations ou liens vers des sites tiers contenus sur ce site internet sont fournis "tels quels", comme commentaires généraux sur le marché et ne constituent pas des conseils en investissement. Dans la mesure où tout contenu est considéré comme de la recherche en investissement, vous devez noter et accepter que le contenu n'a pas été conçu ni préparé conformément aux exigences légales visant à promouvoir l'indépendance de la recherche en investissement et, en tant que tel, il serait considéré comme une communication marketing selon les lois et réglementations applicables. Veuillez vous assurer que vous avez lu et compris notre Avis sur la recherche en investissement non indépendante et notre avertissement sur les risques concernant les informations susdites, qui peuvent consultés ici.
