Proctor and Gamble posts minor profit increase

Consumer packaged goods company Procter and Gamble (P&G) beat Wall Street expectations with its second-quarter performance showing that its turnaround was progressing, despite being the centre of a social-media phenomenon known as the Tide Pod Challenge that has people around the globe convincing one another to consume P&G branded laundry detergent.

Sales over the three months leading to 31 December came in just ahead of estimates at $17.4bn from the $16.85bn it posted at the same time a year earlier, with core earnings rising to $1.19 per share, up 11 cents and topping forecasts of $1.14 each.

Organic sales of beauty products, including Olay products, grew 9% while grooming sales fell 3% due to "pricing reductions" across the shaving care division.

The firm said fabric and home care, its largest business accounting for 31% of its overall revenues, benefited while the US detergent market continues to grow.

But, P&G's finance chief said on Tuesday that the company was continuing its efforts to stop the viral Tide Pod challenge that has sparked memes around the idea of eating them.

#tidepod #tidepods pic.twitter.com/iw3zJc8nvt

— Tide Pod memes (@Tidepodmemes) January 10, 2018

On the group's quarterly earnings call, Jon Moeller, said, "we are doing everything we can to stop the trend that is occurring, including working with social media networks to remove videos that are glorifying this harmful behaviour."

Reported gross margin decreased 60 basis points.

P&G slightly raised its profit guidance after it received a windfall from the Republican's tax reform plan, forecasting earnings per share growth of 5% to 8% for its 2017 fiscal year.

P&G said the new tax laws resulted in a net benefit of around $135m in the latest period, and expected the momentum to continue into the 2018 fiscal year, and increase in the future.

It also took a provisional net charge of $628m for the quarter, due to the new tax law.

David Taylor, chief executive, said, "We remain on track to achieve our fiscal year objectives."