World’s largest consumer-goods maker, Procter & Gamble Co. posted second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as sales of products such as Pampers diapers rose in emerging markets. Net income fell 16 percent to $3.43 billion, or $1.18 a share, from $4.06 billion, or $1.39, a year earlier, Cincinnati-based P&G said Friday in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was $1.21 a share.
Chief Executive Officer A.G. Lafley has said developing markets with climbing household incomes will be “significant” drivers of growth. Sales in such countries rose 8 percent in the quarter, excluding the effects of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign-currency exchange-rate fluctuations. Those gains have helped P&G overcome weakness in the U.S., where it is trying to recapture market share in key categories such as detergents.
Sales rose 0.5 percent to about $22.3 billion. Analysts estimated $22.3 billion, on average. Growth in developing regions helped boost sales in the fabric and home care business as well as the baby, feminine and family care unit, P&G said.
P&G reiterated its annual forecast for a 5 percent to 7 percent increase in adjusted earnings and a 3 percent to 4 percent organic sales gain. P&G rose 4.1 percent to $81.43 at 10:21 a.m. in New York on Friday, and earlier climbed as much as 4.4 percent for the biggest intraday gain since May 24. The shares advanced 20 percent last year, compared with a 30 percent increase for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.